How to say “ship” in Chinese

“Ship” in Chinese is 船, chuán: the meaning, a recording of how it sounds, the characters stroke by stroke and examples.

How to pronounce it

船 is read chuán. The tone is part of the word: with another melody you get another word, or just a jumble of sounds.

How to write it

Strokes go in order: top to bottom and left to right, horizontal before vertical. Tap a character to open its page, with the strokes shown large and the words it appears in. To train your hand, print a handwriting sheet for “船”.

Examples

Sentences from the course lessons with 船. Tap the sound icon to listen.

• 我们坐船游览了这个城市。wǒmenzuòchuányóulǎnlezhègechéngshìWe toured the city by boat.
• 我们在码头等船wǒmenzàimǎtóuděngchuánWe're waiting for the boat at the pier.
• 港口里停着三艘轮船。gǎngkǒulitíngzhesānsōulúnchuánThree ships are docked in the port.
• 我们只能坐船渡河wǒmenzhǐnéngzuòchuándùhéAll we can do is cross the river by boat.
• 这艘轮船明天早上抵达港口zhèsōulúnchuánmíngtiānzǎoshangdǐdágǎngkǒuThis ship will arrive in port tomorrow morning.
• 台风即将来临，沿海的船只都回港口了。táifēngjíjiāngláilín,yánhǎidechuánzhīdōuhuígǎngkǒuleA typhoon is about to arrive — all the boats along the coast have returned to port.

More characters by topic — happiness, luck, strength, nature — on the page “Chinese characters with meanings”.

More words from the lesson “Train, plane, ship”

• 高铁 high-speed train
• 起飞 take off
• 晚点 be delayed
• 检票 check tickets
• 起 rise

Look up another word in the Chinese–English dictionary: in English, in pinyin or in characters.

Frequently asked questions