舟 meaning and stroke order
Boat, ship
How to write 舟, stroke by stroke
6 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
Meaning of 舟
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- boat
How 舟 is built
Pictographic character. A boat.
How to remember 舟
舟 (zhōu) is a picture of a small boat seen from above. The outer strokes are the hull, and the dots and line inside are like the cross planks or the people sitting in it.
舟 is a literary word for boat. In everyday speech people say 船 (chuán), but 舟 lives on in fixed words, festival names and many idioms. Example: 端午节要划龙舟。(Duānwǔ jié yào huá lóngzhōu.) People row dragon boats at the Dragon Boat Festival.
Common mistake: Learners often use 舟 in casual speech, as in 我坐舟去, which sounds odd. Say 我坐船去 (wǒ zuò chuán qù) instead and keep 舟 for set words like 龙舟 and idioms. Also do not confuse it with 州 (zhōu, state or prefecture), which has the same sound but a different meaning.
Common words with 舟
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 龙舟 | lóngzhōu | dragon boat; imperial boat | HSK 7-9 |
| 刻舟求剑 | kèzhōu-qiújiàn | lit. a notch on the side of a boat to locate a sword dropped overboard (idiom); fig. an ac | HSK 7-9 |
| 同舟共济 | tóngzhōu-gòngjì | cross a river in the same boat (idiom); fig. having common interests; obliged to collabora | HSK 7-9 |
| 方舟 | fāngzhōu | ark | |
| 独木舟 | dúmùzhōu | dugout; canoe | |
| 木已成舟 | mùyǐchéngzhōu | lit. the timber has been turned into a boat already (idiom); fig. what is done cannot be u |
舟 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Characters that contain 舟
Learning 舟 makes these easier to recognize and write.
Questions about 舟
How many strokes are in 舟?
舟 is written with 6 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 舟 mean?
舟 (zhōu) means boat, ship. A common word with it is 龙舟 (lóngzhōu), meaning "dragon boat; imperial boat".
How do you pronounce 舟?
舟 is pronounced zhōu, in the first tone (high and level).
Is 舟 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 舟 is part of the HSK 7-9 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
What does 刻舟求剑 mean?
It describes a man who dropped his sword from a boat, marked the boat's side, and later searched the water below the mark. It is used for someone who sticks rigidly to an old method while circumstances have changed.
Why do so many boat characters contain 舟?
舟 works as a meaning component in characters related to boats and ships. You can see it on the left of 船 (chuán, boat), 航 (háng, to sail) and 舰 (jiàn, warship), so spotting it is a good clue to the meaning.