sampan
/ˈsæm.pæn/
sampan noun: a Chinese flat-bottomed wooden boat propelled by two oars. Also the alternative form of jampan.
Noun
sampan (plural sampans)
- A Chinese flat-bottomed wooden boat propelled by two oars.
- 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.1953, John C. Caldwell, China Coast Family, Chicago: Henry Regnery Company, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 96
- Freedom-fighter Lin Chun-hwei reports his escape from the mainland at the Free China Relief Association. Lin escaped by sampan from Putien in Fukien province to one of the islets near Kinmen Oct. 27.1975 November 16, L. Chen, “Maoist showcase of big troubles”, in Free China Weekly, volume XVI, number 45, Taipei, page 3
Also used as
sampan is also the alternative form of jampan.
sampan is also the alternative form of tampan.
sampan meaning in Tagalog, Indonesian, Thai and Vietnamese
sampan in Tagalog
- Chinese boat
- sampan
sampan in Indonesian
- Chinese boat
- sampan
sampan in Thai
- Chinese boat
- สำปั้น
sampan in Vietnamese
- Chinese boat
- thuyền tam bản, xuồng ba lá
More languagesFewer languages
- sampan in Myanmar
- သမ္ဗန် samban
Forms of sampan
| plural | sampans |
|---|---|
| alternative form | champan |
| alternative form | champana |
| alternative form | champane |
Origin of sampan
From Sinitic, likely Cantonese 三板 (saam¹ baan²) or Hokkien 舢板 (sam-pán).
Questions about sampan
- What does sampan mean?
- Sampan means a Chinese flat-bottomed wooden boat propelled by two oars.
- What is sampan in Tagalog?
- Sampan in Tagalog is sampan. See Sampan meaning in Tagalog.
- What part of speech is sampan?
- Sampan is a noun.
- How do you pronounce sampan?
- Sampan is pronounced /ˈsæm.pæn/.
- What is the plural of sampan?
- The plural of sampan is sampans.
Words near sampan in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: sampan (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-sampan.wav.
Cite this entry: “sampan.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sampan. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.