扁舟

piānzhōu
noun #56,508

Measure Word

Meanings

  1. 1 small boat
  2. 2 skiff

Examples

HSK 7-9
Yī yè piānzhōu dúzì piāo zài hú shàng.
A small skiff drifted alone on the lake.
HSK 7-9
老渔翁扁舟驶入江雾之中
Lǎoyúwēng huá zhe piānzhōu shǐrù jiāngwù zhīzhōng.
The old fisherman rowed his small skiff into the river mist.

Tips

register
Literary. Modern Chinese uses 小船 for 'small boat'; 扁舟 is mostly seen in classical poetry and is the canonical site of the rare reading. The everyday reading biǎn ('flat') does not apply here.
culture
The phrase 一叶扁舟 ('one leaf of a skiff') is a stock image in Tang and Song poetry - a lone traveler on water, smallness against vastness. Su Shi uses it in 《赤壁赋》.

Stroke Order

biǎn
zhōu