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船运 (chuán yùn) — shipping; transportation by sea

Definition

noun
shippingtransportation by sea

Examples

  • 船运。
    Zhè jiā gōng sī de chuán yùn yè wù fù gài quán qiú.
    This company's shipping business covers the globe.
  • 船运。
    chuán yùn Chéng běn zuì jìn shàng zhǎng le bù shǎo.
    Shipping costs have risen quite a bit recently.
  • 船运。
    Wǒ men xū yào ān pái chuán yùn bǎ huò sòng dào shàng hǎi.
    We need to arrange shipping to send the goods to Shanghai.

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
运yùntransport

船 means ship and 运 means transport, so the word means transport by 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 運; 运 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
辵辵chuòmotion
Sound part声符shēngfú
軍
軍jūn運yùn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 運 combines 辵, meaning motion, with 軍 to give the sound; the simplified 运 is a later shorthand, so its parts are not the historical components.

Open 运 →
Appears in
Boats & Water Travel

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