船桥 (chuán qiáo) — ship's bridge

Definition

noun
ship's bridge
Measure word · 座

Examples

  • 船桥。
    Chuán zhǎng zài chuán qiáo shàng zhǐ huī zhe quán chuán.
    The captain is commanding the whole ship from the bridge.
  • 船桥。
    Tā měi tiān zài chuán qiáo shàng zhí bān bā gè xiǎo shí.
    He stands watch on the bridge for eight hours every day.
  • 船桥。
    Dǎo háng shè bèi dōu ān zhuāng zài chuán qiáo lǐ.
    The navigation equipment is all installed in the bridge.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

船chuánship
桥qiáobridge

船 names a ship, and 桥 names a bridge; together they mean the bridge-like command platform on a ship.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
舟舟zhōuboat
Sound part声符shēngfú
㕣
㕣㕣船
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

船 pairs 舟 (boat) with 㕣 for its sound.

Open 船 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 橋; 桥 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
木木mùwood
Sound part声符shēngfú
喬
喬qiáo橋qiáo
Same sound today

The traditional form 橋 pairs 木 (wood) with 喬 (qiáo), which gave the character its sound; the simplified 桥 is a later abbreviation.

Open 桥 →

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