划船

• Pinyin: huá chuán
• Hanzi breakdown: 划 = 戈 (halberd) + 刂 (knife radical), originally meaning to cut/scratch; 船 = 舟 (boat) + 㕣 (phonetic)

Meaning

To row a boat; boating. The activity of propelling a boat by oars or paddles.

A verb-object compound (离合词) where 划 means to paddle or row and 船 means boat. It refers to recreational rowing or paddling on lakes or rivers. In China it is a common leisure activity in parks with lakes.

Examples

1. 周末我们去公园划船吧。 Let's go boating in the park this weekend.
2. 小时候爸爸经常带我去湖边划船。 When I was young, Dad often took me to the lake to go boating.
3. 划船是一种很好的运动。 Rowing is a very good form of exercise.

Usage Guide

Context: leisure, sports, outdoors

Tone: casual

Do Say

• 今天天气真好，我们去划船吧！(The weather is great today, let's go boating!)
• 我不太会划船，你教我吧。(I'm not very good at rowing, can you teach me?)

Don't Say

• 我们去划一个船。(Don't insert a measure word between 划 and 船 in the basic sense — say 划船 as a unit. For specifying a boat, say 划一条船.)

Origin & History

Verb-object compound of 划 (to paddle, to row) and 船 (boat/ship). 划 originally meant 'to scratch or mark,' extended to the motion of rowing through water.

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal