車 - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

See also: 车, 倝, and 重

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.

• 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

• 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

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).

Perhaps a loan from an Indo-European language because the 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), from Proto-Tocharian *kuk(ä)le, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷékʷlos, a form of *kʷel- (“to turn”). Cognate with English wheel, Ancient Greek κύκλος (kúklos), Lithuanian kaklas (“neck”), etc.

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).

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. [Pinyin]

   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 [Jyutping]

   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. [Pinyin]

     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. [Pinyin]

     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? [Jyutping]

   Can you drive me to the MTR station?

8. to tailor or sew using a sewing machine

   車衫／车衫 [Cantonese]  ―  ce¹ saam¹ [Jyutping]  ―  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 [Jyutping]

   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. [Pinyin]

      (please add an English translation of this usage example)

14. a surname

• 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

• (vehicle):

車

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

• (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

Others:

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

• “車”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[1], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• “Entry #3408”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2024.

車

(First grade kyōiku kanji)

1. vehicle

• 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)

From Middle Chinese 車 (MC tsyhae).

• IPA^(key): [ɕa̠]

車(しゃ) • (-sha) 

1. used to count vehicles

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

From Old Japanese. Appears in the Man'yōshū completed some time after 759 CE, with the ideographic spelling 車.^[1]

Assuming an initial meaning of wheel, may be a compound of くる (kuru, related to spinning or rotating, as in 繰る (kuru, “to spin (as in thread)”), 枢 (kuru, “hinge”), くるくる (kurukuru, “spinningly, round and round”), 転めく (kurumeku, “to spin round and round, to rotate; to be dizzy”)) +‎ ま (ma, a suffix added to various parts of speech to form an indeclinable word indicating state).

• (Tokyo) くるま [kùrúmá] (Heiban – [0])^[2][3]
• IPA^(key): [kɯ̟ɾɯ̟ma̠]