Sampan
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A Chinese flat-bottomed wooden boat propelled by two oars. historical
"We traveled down the Min River from Nanping in a small sampan, flying the American flag for protection against bandits and soldiers. Those were the days when the Stars and Stripes still afforded some protection."
- 2 Alternative form of jampan. India, alt-of, alternative, historical
"... by these central poles the litter, or as it is here called, the Sampan, is supported on the shoulders of four men."
- 3 an Asian skiff usually propelled by two oars wordnet
Example
More examples"One late afternoon as the sun hung red in the purple mist, which rises from the rice fields beyond Honam, the Breton was dreaming as usual on the bund’s edge when a sampan gondoliered by a boat-girl glided to a landing stair not far from him."
Etymology
From Sinitic, likely Cantonese 三板 (saam¹ baan²) or Hokkien 舢板 (sam-pán).
More for "sampan"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.