About
The character 舻 (lú), with traditional form 艫, is a phono-semantic compound related to ships. Its left component 舟 (zhōu) is the semantic radical for "boat", placing it within the category of vessels. The right component 卢 (lú; traditional 盧) provides the phonetic element. Originally, 舻 referred to the bow or stern of a wooden boat. In classical texts, it often appears in the compound 舳舻 (zhúlú), where it combines with the character for "oar" to function as a synecdoche for an entire fleet of ships sailing in sequence.
Etymology Hide
