舟 (zhōu): boat

Measure Word

一叶舟 yè

Meanings

1 boat

Characters

舟

zhōu

boat

Examples

一叶扁舟在湖面上漂浮。

Yī yè piānzhōu zài húmiàn shàng piāofú.

A small boat drifted on the lake.

同舟共济，共渡难关。

Tóngzhōugòngjì, gòng dù nánguān.

In the same boat, we weather the storm together.

Tips

register

舟 is literary/classical. In everyday speech, 船 (chuán) is the standard word for boat. 舟 appears mainly in idioms and poetry, like 同舟共济 (in the same boat together).

Components

pictograph

舟 zhōu

boat

Pictograph of a small plank boat seen from above — the top stroke is the prow, the curving line traces the hull, and the horizontals inside mark the planks. 舟 is itself a Kangxi radical (#137), indexing 船 ship, 航 to sail, 舱 cabin, 艘 measure word for vessels.

Radical

Boat Kangxi #137

The boat radical. A pictograph of an oracle-bone canoe — two long sides for hulls and inner strokes for prow, hold, and stern. Productive in nautical vocabulary: 船 (ship), 航 (navigate), 艘 (measure word for ships), 舱 (cabin), 舵 (rudder). A reliable cue for anything that floats.