曳えい船せん

also: ひきふね

え

い

せ

ん

Meanings

1

noun

tugboat; tug; towboat

A boat used for towing or pushing other vessels. The reading えいせん is most common for this sense.

2

noun, noun or participle which takes 'suru'

tugging; towing; towage

The act of towing a boat. Can be used as a noun or with する to mean 'to tow a boat'. The reading ひきふね is more common for this sense.

曳船Usage61%
- えいせん
  Standard kanji spelling for the reading えいせん, commonly used for tugboat.
- ひきふね
引ひき船ふねUsage26%
Kana-okurigana spelling for ひきふね; clearer reading for learners.
曳ひき船ふねUsage6%
Rare mixed spelling; 曳 is usually read えい in this compound.
引ひき船ふねUsage3%
Alternate kanji spelling for ひきふね; less common than 曳船 for えいせん.
引ひき舟ふねUsage3%
Rare variant; 舟 is less common than 船 in this word.
引ひき舟ふね
Rare variant using 舟 instead of 船.
ひきふね

タグボート
Katakana loanword for tugboat, more common in modern casual contexts than 曳船.
牽けん引いん
General term for towing or pulling, not limited to boats.

Compound of 曳 (ei, 'pull, tow') and 船 (sen, 'boat, ship'). The reading ひきふね uses the native Japanese reading of the same characters.

boat, ship