航空母艦(こうくうぼかん)

こうくうぼかん
noun
aircraft carrier
1. aircraft carrier
A large warship designed to serve as a seagoing airbase, carrying, launching, and recovering aircraft. The full formal term for what is usually abbreviated in conversation as 空母(くうぼ).
航空母艦(こうくうぼかん)が入港(にゅうこう)した。
The aircraft carrier entered port.
航空母艦(こうくうぼかん)から戦闘機(せんとうき)が発艦(はっかん)した。
Fighter jets took off from the aircraft carrier.
第二次(だいにじ)世界(せかい)大戦中(たいせんちゅう)、航空母艦(こうくうぼかん)は海戦(かいせん)の主役(しゅやく)となった。
During World War II, aircraft carriers became the main players in naval warfare.

Compound of 航空(こうくう) ('aviation'), 母(ぼ) ('mother') and 艦(かん) ('warship') — literally 'aviation mother-ship'. The 'mother' element reflects the ship's role as a base that sends out and takes back aircraft.

USAGE:

  • A formal or technical term; in everyday speech and news headlines the abbreviation 空母(くうぼ) is far more common.
  • Appears mainly in military, historical, and news contexts.
  • Often modified to specify type: 原子力(げんしりょく)空母(くうぼ) ('nuclear-powered carrier'), 護衛艦(ごえいかん) ('escort ship', used in Japan for vessels that elsewhere would be called carriers).

COMMON COLLOCATIONS:

  • 航空母艦(こうくうぼかん)を建造(けんぞう)する: to build an aircraft carrier
  • 航空母艦(こうくうぼかん)から発艦(はっかん)する: to launch from an aircraft carrier
  • 航空母艦(こうくうぼかん)に着艦(ちゃっかん)する: to land on an aircraft carrier
  • 原子力(げんしりょく)航空母艦(こうくうぼかん): nuclear-powered aircraft carrier

SIMILAR WORDS:

  • 空母(くうぼ): aircraft carrier — the everyday abbreviation, used in news and conversation.
  • 戦艦(せんかん): battleship — a different class of heavy warship, now largely obsolete.
  • 駆逐艦(くちくかん): destroyer — a smaller, fast warship.
  • 護衛艦(ごえいかん): escort ship — the designation used by Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force for its largest ships, including helicopter carriers.
general
Added 2026.4.16 1:25
23500/23965_koukuubokan