帆

• Pinyin: fān
• Hanzi breakdown: 帆 = 巾 (cloth) + 凡 (universal/ordinary) — a broad cloth that harnesses the wind

Meaning

Sail; a large piece of fabric attached to a mast that catches wind to propel a vessel.

Used in nautical, literary, and figurative contexts. 帆 carries strong poetic connotations in classical Chinese literature, often evoking journeys, ambition, and the vastness of water and sky. Appears in compound words related to sailing and travel.

Examples

1. 夕阳西沉之际，一叶孤帆在宽阔的江面上缓缓漂移，映衬出一幅令人动容的水墨画卷。 As the sun sank in the west, a lone sail drifted slowly across the broad river, creating a moving scene like an ink-wash painting.
2. 古代丝绸之路的海上航线依赖季风鼓满船帆，将中国的丝绸与瓷器运送至遥远的阿拉伯半岛和东非沿岸。 The maritime routes of the ancient Silk Road relied on monsoon winds filling the sails to carry China’s silk and porcelain to the distant Arabian Peninsula and the East African coast.
3. 这艘仿古帆船复原了宋代海船的结构，船帆以竹骨为架，既轻便又能高效地利用不同方向的风力行驶。 This replica antique sailboat recreates the structure of Song-dynasty seagoing ships; its sails, built on bamboo frames, are lightweight and can efficiently harness winds from different directions.

Usage Guide

Context: nautical, literature, history, travel

Tone: literary

Do Say

• 船员根据风向调整帆的角度，以便快速穿越季风区。(The sailors adjusted the sail angle according to the wind to cross the monsoon zone quickly.)
• 诗人以一片孤帆喻指漂泊异乡的游子，将对故土的深切思念凝练成短短二十字，使这首绝句在千年之后仍能引发无数读者的强烈共鸣。(The poet used a lone sail as a metaphor for a wanderer far from home, distilling a profound longing for one's homeland into a mere twenty characters, so that this quatrain could still evoke intense resonance in countless readers a thousand years later.)

Don't Say

• 开帆 — 帆 does not collocate with 开; use 扬帆 (to set sail/raise the sails) or 起航 for the act of departing by boat

Origin & History

帆 = 巾 (cloth radical) + 凡 (general/ordinary) — a cloth that catches the ordinary wind to drive a boat

Cultural Context

Era: 古代

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal