The Chinese word 开船 (kāi chuán) is a verb-object compound formed by combining the verb 开 (kāi), meaning "to open," "to start," or "to operate," with the noun 船 (chuán), meaning "boat" or "ship." Literally, it translates to "to open the boat," but idiomatically it means "to set sail" or "to depart by boat," where 开 takes on the extended meaning of "to set in motion" or "to get underway." This formation follows a common grammatical structure in Chinese where an action verb is directly paired with its object to create a specific, actionable phrase.