noun
A person on a boat, either a crew member or a passenger. The word is somewhat literary or old-fashioned; in modern Japanese, 船員 (せんいん) or 船乗り (ふなのり) are more common for 'sailor', and 乗客 (じょうきゃく) for 'passenger'.
古い歌に「船人」という言葉が出てくる。
The word 'funabito' appears in an old song.
船人たちは嵐を乗り越えた。
The boatmen weathered the storm.
Compound of 船 (funa, 'boat') and 人 (hito, 'person'), with rendaku voicing of hito to bito.