Genesis uses the Hebrew word tebah for the vessel Noah built.
The Hebrew noun תֵּבָה, commonly transliterated as tebah or tevah, appears in the flood narrative and is often translated as “ark.” It is an unusual word in the Hebrew Bible because it is used chiefly for Noah’s vessel and for the basket in which the infant Moses is placed in Exodus.
That shared vocabulary has led scholars and interpreters to notice a literary connection between Noah and Moses: both are preserved from deadly water inside a tebah. The word does not mean an ordinary sailing ship in the modern technical sense. Genesis describes a large enclosed vessel with rooms, but gives no account of a rudder, sails, or navigation system.
The more familiar Hebrew term aron, meaning a chest or box, is used for the Ark of the Covenant, not Noah’s Ark. Confusing tebah with aron can blur two different biblical objects and narratives.