船舶

chuán bó · HSK 7

boats

🚢 chuan bo = boat + moored-boat — ships of every size

船 (chuan) is the everyday word for boat. 舶 (bo) is an old term for ocean-going vessels. Together they form the formal/collective noun for shipping and watercraft in general.

船 — boat radical 舟 + 㕣 (phonetic)
船 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The left side 舟 depicts a boat and gives the meaning, while the right side 㕣 originally suggested the sound. Together they refer to a ship or vessel, a meaning that has stayed stable since early seal script.

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