車

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

See images of
Radical 159 車

車 (Kangxi radical 159, 車+0, 7 strokes, cangjie input 十田十 (JWJ), four-corner 5000₆, composition ⿻亘丨 or ⿻二申)

1. Kangxi radical #159, ⾞.

Derived characters

• Appendix:Chinese radical/車
• 俥, 唓, 𡌄, 𡝀, 𡷖, 𢚷, 捙, 𣵐, 陣, 連, 𣒞, 𤉖, 𤥭, 𪨑, 硨, 𦀺, 蛼, 𫌼, 𬦲, 𩳛, 𬵒
• 軋, 𠜥, 𠜒, 𨊴, 軙, 𨛩, 斬, 𤭔, 𩒷, 軍, 𰃚, 莗, 𭶼, 𫁿, 𫅨, 𠣞, 𣫂, 厙, 庫, 㾝, 𪋀, 閳, 𪢫

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1239, character 1
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 38172
• Dae Jaweon: page 1712, character 34
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 5, page 3511, character 1
• Unihan data for U+8ECA

• Unihan data for U+F902

Chinese

Wikipedia has articles on:

• 車 (Written Standard Chinese^?)
• chhia (Southern Min)

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 車
Shang		Western Zhou	Spring and Autumn	Warring States			Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)		Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions	Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Bronze inscriptions	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Qin slip script	Shizhoupian script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Pictogram (象形) – originally a carriage seen from above. In the oracle bone script, there were large wheels on both sides and a sun shade on the top. Later, when Chinese characters were written vertically, the wheels on both sides were simply drawn in strokes and the loading area was marked with a 田 (OC *l'iːŋ). Therefore, it is important to understand that the current character, 車 (OC *kʰlja, *kla) is a vertical depiction of a carriage.

Note that 倝 (OC *kaːns) and 朝 (OC *ʔr'ew, *r'ew) are not derived from 車 (OC *kʰlja, *kla).

Etymology

Perhaps a loan from an Indo-European language because horse and chariot were introduced into China around 1200 BC from Inner Asia; compare Tocharian A kukäl, Tocharian B kokale (“wagon; cart”) (Mair, 1990; Bauer, 1994). An older variant survives in Mandarin 軲轆／轱辘 (gūlu, “wheel”) (Bauer, 1994). Alternatively, the word is a derivation by k-prefix from 舁 (OC *la, “to lift”) (Baxter and Sagart, 1998); compare the semantic parallel in Tibetan ཐེག་པ (theg pa, “vehicle; carriage”) (<to support; to carry; to lift).

Pronunciations 1 and 2 are cognate. A similar phonological doublet is 處 (OC *kʰljaʔ, *kʰljas) and 居 (OC *kas) (Schuessler, 2007). Pronunciation 2 is traditionally regarded as the older pronunciation.

The sense of lewd content is derived from 老司機／老司机 (lǎosījī).

Pronunciation 1

Definitions

車

1. (countable) land vehicle; (specifically) car (Classifier: 輛／辆 m; 部 m c; 臺／台 m mn; 架 c; 頂／顶 mn; 張／张 mn-t)

   汽車／汽车  ―  qìchē  ―  car

   火車／火车  ―  huǒchē  ―  train

   街上一輛車都沒有。 [MSC, trad.]
   街上一辆车都没有。 [MSC, simp.]

   Jiē shàng yī liàng chē dōu méiyǒu.

   There is not even one car on the street.

   去車行買新車 [Cantonese, trad.]
   去车行买新车 [Cantonese, simp.]

   heoi³ ce¹ hong^4-2 maai⁵ san¹ ce¹

   to buy a new car at a car dealership

   • 有車隣隣，有馬白顛。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad.]
     有车邻邻，有马白颠。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Classic of Poetry, c. 11^th – 7^th centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Yǒu chē línlín, yǒu mǎ bái diān.

     He has many carriages, giving forth their lin-lin;
     He has horses with their white foreheads.

   • 阿Q被抬上了一輛沒有蓬的車，幾個短衣人物也和他同坐在一處。 [MSC, trad.]
     阿Q被抬上了一辆没有蓬的车，几个短衣人物也和他同坐在一处。 [MSC, simp.]

     From: Lu Xun, 1922. The True Story of Ah Q (《阿Q正傳》)

     Āqiū bèi tái shàng le yī liàng méiyǒu péng de chē, jǐ ge duǎnyī rénwù yě hé tā tóng zuò zài yī chù.

     Ah Q was lifted on to an uncovered cart, and several men in short jackets sat down with him.

2. wheeled device, appliance, instrument or apparatus

   滑車／滑车  ―  huáchē  ―  pulley

   紡車／纺车  ―  fǎngchē  ―  spinning wheel

3. machine; rig; engine; motor; locomotive; tractor; truck; lorry (Classifier: 部 m; 臺／台 m)

   試車／试车  ―  shìchē  ―  to test a new machine

4. (Cantonese) driving (action of operating a vehicle); driving skills (Classifier: 手 c)
5. to lathe
6. to lift water using a 水車／水车 (“old-style machine that is human or animal-powered and lifts water”)
7. (dialectal, including Cantonese, Wu, Northern Min, Southern Min, Liuzhou Mandarin) to transport using a vehicle

   你可唔可以車我去地鐵站呀？ [Cantonese, trad.]
   你可唔可以车我去地铁站呀？ [Cantonese, simp.]

   nei⁵ ho² m⁴ ho² ji⁵ ce¹ ngo⁵ heoi³ dei⁶ tit³ zaam⁶ aa³?

   Can you drive me to the MTR station?

8. to tailor or sew using a sewing machine

   車衫／车衫 [Cantonese]  ―  ce¹ saam¹   ―  to sew clothes with a sewing machine

9. (Cantonese) to hit violently

   大巴大巴車落佢塊面度 [Cantonese, trad.]
   大巴大巴车落佢块面度 [Cantonese, simp.]

   daai⁶ baa¹ daai⁶ baa¹ ce¹ lok⁶ keoi⁵ faai³ min⁶ dou⁶

   to hit his face with multiple violent slaps

10. (dialectal) to turn (one's body, etc.)
11. (Sichuanese) to rotate; to turn
12. (Internet slang) pornography; lewd content
13. Classifier for loads of things carried by a vehicle.

    • 一車炭，千餘斤，官使驅將惜不得。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
      一车炭，千余斤，官使驱将惜不得。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

      From: c. 8th century, Bai Juyi (白居易), 賣炭翁

      Yī chē tàn, qiān yú jīn, guān shǐ qū jiāng xī bùdé.

      (please add an English translation of this usage example)

14. a surname

Usage notes

• 車／车 (chē) is a collective term for all types of vehicles with wheel(s). Additional morphemes are added in front to specify the type of the vehicle. For example:

  汽車／汽车  ―  qìchē  ―  car

  火車／火车  ―  huǒchē  ―  train

  自行車／自行车  ―  zìxíngchē  ―  bicycle

  嬰兒車／婴儿车  ―  yīng'érchē  ―  pram

Synonyms

• (vehicle):

Compounds

Pronunciation 2

Definitions

車

1. (xiangqi) chariot; rook (Classifier: 隻／只 c)
2. (chess) rook

Coordinate terms

• (Chinese chess pieces) 帥／帅 (shuài) / 將／将, 仕 (shì) / 士 (shì), 相 / 象 (xiàng), 俥／伡 / 車／车, 傌 / 㐷 / 馬／马 (mǎ), 炮 / 砲／炮, 兵 (bīng) / 卒

Compounds

Descendants

Others:

• → Vietnamese: xe (車, “wheeled vehicle”)
• → Zhuang: ci (“vehicle”)

See also

Chess pieces in Mandarin · 國際象棋棋子／国际象棋棋子 (guójì xiàngqí qízǐ) (layout · text)
王 (wáng), 國王／国王 (guówáng)	后 (hòu), 皇后 (huánghòu)	車／车 (jū), 城堡 (chéngbǎo)	象 (xiàng), 主教 (zhǔjiào)	馬／马 (mǎ), 騎士／骑士 (qíshì)	兵 (bīng)

References

• “車”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• “Entry #3408”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2023.

Japanese

Kanji

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. vehicle

Readings

• Go-on: しゃ (sha, Jōyō)^{←しや (sya, historical)}; こ (ko)
• Kan-on: しゃ (sha, Jōyō)^{←しや (sya, historical)}; きょ (kyo)^{←きよ (kyo, historical)}
• Kun: くるま (kuruma, 車, Jōyō)

Compounds

Etymology 1

From Middle Chinese 車 (MC tsyhae).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Counter

車(しゃ) • (-sha) 

1. used to count vehicles

Affix

車(しゃ) • (sha) 

1. vehicle

   韓(かん)国(こく)車(しゃ)

   Kankoku-sha

   South Korean vehicle

2. train car

   Synonym: 車両

   女(じょ)性(せい)専(せん)用(よう)車(しゃ)

   josei-sen'yō-sha

   car for women only