航运

háng yùn · HSK 7

shipping

🚢 航 (navigate by sea) + 运 (transport) = shipping; moving goods by ship

航 carries the boat radical 舟 and means to sail or navigate; 运 means to transport or convey. Together the compound names the trade of moving cargo over water. The yùn syllable is the same 运 found in 运动 (sport) and 运气 (luck).

运 — walk radical 辶 + 军 jūn (army)
Originally depicted an army (军) on the move (辶), meaning to transport or move troops. The sense broadened to 'transport, move, revolve' and later acquired the abstract meaning of 'fortune' or 'luck'—what fate moves toward you. The simplified form replaces traditional 運.

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