How to Write 艏 (shǒu) — Meaning “Bow / Prow (of a ship)”

Imagine a boat (舟) with a giant human head (首) sticking out at the front — that is the bow of the ship. You can also think of 首 as "leader" or "first," so 艏 is the "first part of the boat."

Pay attention to the dot above 首 — it is a small 丶 and must not be replaced by a longer stroke. Also, the left radical 舟 is written with its horizontal stroke going through the vertical line, and the right part 首 should not be too wide. Common mistake: making 首 look like 酋 (which has an extra horizontal line).

艏 (prow) and 艄 (stern or helmsman) are opposites: 艏 is the front of a ship, while 艄 is the back part or the rudder. Visually, 艏 has 首 on the right, while 艄 has 肖 (which looks like 小 + 月). 艅 is a different boat name and is very rare; it uses 余 as its phonetic part.

You will mostly see 艏 in technical or formal maritime contexts, such as shipbuilding, naval engineering, or in news about warships. For example, 船艏 refers to the bow of a ship, and 舰艏 is the bow of a warship. It is not used in everyday conversation, so it is a specialized character.

Common words containing 艏 include: 船艏 (chuán shǒu) — Bow; prow; 舰艏 (jiàn shǒu) — bow (of a warship); 艏部 (shǒu bù) — Bow section / Prow.