HSK 3 · Transport

船 chuán “a boat” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 船 means

  1. a boat
  2. vessel
  3. ship

Measure word 条 tiáo or 艘 sōu · 一条船 yì tiáo chuán

How to say 船

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale船chuán2nd tone, rising

船 in a sentence

  1. 湖上有一些船。

    Hú shàng yǒu yìxiē chuán.

    There are some boats on the lake.

    Sentence #907878 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我们会坐船过河。

    Wǒmen huì zuò chuán guòhé.

    We’ll cross the river by boat.

    Sentence #13839310 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 那艘船上有多少人？

    Nà sōu chuán shàng yǒu duōshǎo rén?

    How many people are on that boat?

    Sentence #13563495 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 船 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 船 (chuán) with each of its parts in a different colour
船chuánboat
  • 舟boat · zhōuMeaning part
  • 几table · jī
  • 口mouth · kǒu

How to write 船

船 11 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

船 (chuán) stroke order chart: each stroke of the character in the order you write it
Stroke order chart for 船 (chuán). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 船

Words with 船

船舶chuánbó · ships轮船lúnchuán · steamship

More words: Everyday Things

事情shìqing · matter颜色yánsè · colour公共汽车gōnggòng qìchē · bus意思yìsi · meaning护照hùzhào · passport辆liàng · mw for vehicles自行车zìxíngchē · bike冰箱bīngxiāng · refrigerator

FAQs

船 (chuán) means “a boat” or “vessel”. It is an HSK 3 word.
Say it chuán: chuán with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 船 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Use 条 (tiáo) or 艘 (sōu). For example, one a boat is 一条船 (yì tiáo chuán).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type chuan with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 船 from the suggestions. Typing chuan into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
船 is an HSK 3 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

Turn words into conversations

A dictionary gives you the words. A native teacher shows you how to use them. Start with a free 30-minute intro call.

Book a free intro call

Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.