艘 (sōu) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

艘

sōu[sou1]Tone 1

classifier for ships

HSK 7

Guru Deep Dive

English · classifier for ships

Cached lesson

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:13

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (舟) is narrow and compressed; the right side (叟) is wider and bears the complex horizontal strokes. Keep them balanced within an imaginary square.

1. Meaning

classifier for ships and watercraft

vessel (archaic or literary noun sense)

measure word (classifier)NeutralBound morpheme#transportation#maritime#classifiers#quantifiers

Sample Usage

这艘船很大。
zhè sōu chuán hěn dà.
This ship is very big.
海面上有一艘货轮。
hǎi miàn shàng yǒu yī sōu huò lún.
There is a cargo ship on the sea surface.

2. Sound

/[sou̯˥˥]/Tone: 55

艘

sōusou1

¯(55)

=sōu

Build the syllable

Step-by-step blending

sou

Tone mark placement: Tone mark sits on "o" per main-vowel priority (a > e > o; in -iu/-ui the mark takes the second vowel).

Initial Consonant

Type: Dental Fricative

Sounds like: s sound as in 'sun'

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Clear, steady sibilant hiss.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Tip of the tongue approaches the back of the upper teeth with a narrow gap for air friction.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -o vowel group

Sounds like: -ou rhymes with 'ow' in 'show'

Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'oh'.

Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.

Tone

T1 (55)

5 → 5 (55)

1st Tone (High-Flat)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 1 is flat and high (55), exactly like singing a single unchanging high note in a song.

👂

Listening trap: Do not confuse with the fourth tone 'sòu' or low dipping tone 'sǒu'. Tone 1 must stay completely level and high.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A high, flat musical note held steady at the top of your vocal range, like a soprano singing a sustained note.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 13 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (舟) is narrow and compressed; the right side (叟) is wider and bears the complex horizontal strokes. Keep them balanced within an imaginary square.

4. Components

Radical 舟 · Boat Radical (boat, ship, vessel)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 舟 (indicates boats and water vessels)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 叟 (original sound: sōu)

A boat (舟) paired with an old man or elder (叟) who captains or boards the vessel.

舟 boat/ship (left)
叟 elder/old man providing phonetic clue (right)

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

12· Phonetic Root: 叟 (sǒu)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combined from the boat radical (舟) representing the semantic domain of watercraft, and (叟) providing the sound and a secondary connotation of an experienced captain or master.

Semantic Evolution: Originally referred to ships or boats directly, later specialized primarily as a measure word (classifier) used exclusively for counting ships, boats, and large floating vessels.

Measure words for specific nouns evolved in Middle Chinese to categorize objects by shape; 舟 became the specialized counter for watercraft.

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: ソウ (sō)

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

An elderly captain (叟) stands proudly aboard his magnificent boat (舟), counting out loud: 'One ship, two ships... 1, sōu! 2, sōu!'

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

叟

sǒuold gentleman; old manPhonetic Core (声旁)

搜

sōuto search; variant of 蒐|搜[sou1]+ 扌 (hand)

瘦

shòuthin+ 疒 (sickness)

嫂

sǎo(bound form) older brother's wife; sister-in-law+ 女 (woman)

Explore this family →

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

搜(sōu)

艘 uses the boat radical (舟) for vessels; 搜 uses the hand radical (扌) for searching.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

港口里停着好几[___]巨型货轮。

Clue: sōu

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing 艘 (sōu, classifier for ships) with general classifiers like 个 (gè) or 条 (tiáo). Ships require specifically 艘.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see the character 艘, what is its primary grammatical function and what object does it count?

Production: How do you write the measure word for 'ships' in Mandarin, and what are its two main components?

艘sōuclassifier for ships

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