航船 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

hángchuán

ship

háng sail, ship

Phonosemantic compound. 舟 represents the meaning and 亢 represents the sound.

舟 Meaning component

zhōu boat

亢 Sound component

kàng, gāng, gēng high

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese
Zhengzhang		ɡaːŋ
Unicode	hɑng

Phonosemantic compound. 舟 represents the meaning and 㕣 represents the sound.

舟 Meaning component

zhōu boat

㕣 Sound component

yǎn a marsh at the foot of the hills

Change in sound

船 and 㕣 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
船 *Cə.lo[n]
㕣 lon

Regular Modern

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	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	zywen	Cə.lo[n]	boat

《說文》：“船，舟也。从舟，鉛省聲。”