戦艦

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 戦艦(せんかん) means a battleship, a large heavily armed warship built for combat.
• Basic usage: It is used for a model of an old battleship in a museum or a huge battleship in a story. Typical patterns are 戦艦の模型 and 巨大な戦艦が港を守る.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Distinguish an exhibit from the vessel
  • 戦艦の模型 is a scale model of a battleship, not the battleship itself.
• Difference from 軍艦
  • 軍艦(ぐんかん) broadly denotes a military vessel, while 戦艦 identifies the specific warship category of battleship.