走私船 (zǒu sī chuán) — smuggling ship; smuggling vessel | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

smuggling shipsmuggling vessel

Measure word · 艘

Examples

走私船。
Jǐng fāng zài hǎi shàng chá huò le yì sōu zǒu sī chuán.
The police seized a smuggling ship at sea.
走私船。
Nà sōu zǒu sī chuán shàng zhuāng mǎn le fēi fǎ huò wù.
That smuggling vessel was loaded with illegal goods.
走私船。
Hǎi guān rén yuán zhèng zài jiǎn chá zhè sōu zǒu sī chuán.
Customs officers are inspecting this smuggling ship.

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.

走私smuggling

走zǒumove私sīprivate goods

动宾Verb + object

走私 suggests secretly moving private goods, and 船 is a ship, together naming a smuggling vessel.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The original shape showed a running man, with a foot added later.

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

禾厶私

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

厶

厶sī私sī

Same sound today

私 combines 禾 and 厶; 厶 originally represented the word, and 禾 was added later.

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.

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