舟 (zhōu) is a Chinese character meaning “boat”. It is written from ㇒ (left-falling stroke) and 丹 (cinnabar; vermilion red) and ㇔ (dot stroke), and takes 6 strokes.
Build the character for “boat; small ship”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
㇒ + 丹 + ㇔
Overlapping structure
Structure from: Unicode U+821F; 现代字形纯笔画/同形拆分，已逐笔对照 hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 六笔几何核验（首笔㇒ + 第2–5笔与丹同形 + 末笔㇔在横下）
Memory aid
A single slanting stroke ㇒ sits on top like a raised prow. Under it the shape of 丹 draws the hull with its long deck line. One last dot ㇔ drops below that line — the load already aboard. 舟 is a boat.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
6 strokes
In real words
- 龙舟lóng zhōudragon boat舟 = zhōu
- 扁舟piān zhōusmall boat; skiff舟 = zhōu
Go deeper
All readings
boat
boat; small ship (mostly literary or in compounds)
船，多指小船；多用于书面语和固定词语中。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 龙舟lóng zhōudragon boat舟 = zhōu
- 扁舟piān zhōusmall boat; skiff舟 = zhōu
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 舟 mean?
舟 (zhōu) means boat; small ship (mostly literary or in compounds).
How do you pronounce 舟?
It is pronounced zhōu.
What parts is 舟 made of?
㇒ (left-falling stroke) and 丹 (cinnabar; vermilion red) and ㇔ (dot stroke). The recorded source is: Unicode U+821F; 现代字形纯笔画/同形拆分，已逐笔对照 hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 六笔几何核验（首笔㇒ + 第2–5笔与丹同形 + 末笔㇔在横下）. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 舟 have?
6. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 舟?
舟. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 舟?
Common ones are 龙舟. The reading of 舟 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.