艘

sōu

classifier for ships

Taiwan pr. [sao1]

boat (舟) + sound (叟) = counter for ships

舟 anchors the meaning squarely in the world of boats and vessels. 叟 (old man) contributes the rough sound sōu and nothing more semantically.

舟+叟→艘
叟Old manPhonetic
舟BoatSemantic

河里停着一艘小船。

hé lǐ tíng zhe yī sōu xiǎo chuán。

A small boat is moored in the river.

港口里有三艘大船在等待出发。

gǎng kǒu lǐ yǒu sān sōu dà chuán zài děng dài chū fā。

In the harbor there are three large ships waiting to depart.

More characters with 舟

艚艎艨艋盘艏艇