Chinese word

艘

Pronunciation

Pinyinsōu

Meaning

  • measure wordboat

Example

我们租了一艘船去钓鱼。wǒ men zū le yì sōu chuán qù diào yú

We rented a boat to go fishing.

Illustration for 艘 (boat)

More examples

港口停着三艘货轮，正在装卸货物。gáng kǒu tíng zhe sān sōu huò lún zhèng zài zhuāng xiè huò wù

Three cargo ships are docked at the port, loading and unloading cargo.

Core concept

A separate vessel moving as one unit on the water.

Common phrases

  • 一艘船yì sōu chuán

    one boat

  • 三艘货轮sān sōu huò lún

    three cargo ships

  • 一艘游艇yì sōu yóu tǐng

    one yacht

Similar words

条tiáo: Counts long, slender things, including boats, fish, roads, and rivers.

Definition in Chinese

用于计数船只的量词，用来表示船的数量，常见于“一艘船”“两艘渔船”等表达。yòng yú jì shù chuán zhī de liàng cí yòng lái biǎo shì chuán de shù liàng cháng jiàn yú yì sōu chuán liǎng sōu yú chuán děng biǎo dá

Word origin

In 艘 (sōu, "boat-counting measure word"), the semantic part 舟 (zhōu, "boat") identifies the domain, and 叟 (sǒu, "old man") provides a sound clue.

Usage tips

  • When the vessel type is already clear, Chinese can leave the noun unspoken after the number and retain the measure word, which makes short conversational expressions easy to miss.

Word lists with this word