車 meaning and stroke order
Cart, vehicle; to move in a cart
How to write 車, stroke by stroke
7 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
Meaning of 車
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- car
- vehicle
- machine
- to shape with a lathe
- Kangxi radical 159
- war chariot (archaic)
- rook (in Chinese chess)
- rook (in chess)
How 車 is built
Pictographic character. A cart with two wheels, seen from above.
How to remember 車
車 is a picture of a two-wheeled cart seen from above. The box in the middle (it looks like 日) is the cart body, the long vertical stroke is the axle, and the top and bottom horizontal strokes are the two wheels.
車 is the traditional form of 车 and appears in any word about vehicles, such as 火車 (huǒchē, train) and 汽車 (qìchē, car). It also shows up as a component in many vehicle-related characters. Example: 我們在車站見 (wǒmen zài chēzhàn jiàn), We'll meet at the station.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 車 with 東 (dōng, east), because both have a box with a vertical stroke through it. 東 has two slanting strokes at the bottom, while 車 ends with a flat horizontal line.
Common words with 車
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 開車 | kāichē | to drive a car (or train etc); (slang) to post sexual content online; to make a sexual jok | HSK 1 |
| 火車 | huǒchē | train | HSK 1 |
| 上車 | shàng chē | to get on or into (a bus, train, car etc) | HSK 1 |
| 汽車 | qìchē | car; automobile | HSK 1 |
| 下車 | xià chē | to get off or out of (a bus, train, car etc) | HSK 1 |
| 車上 | chē shang | HSK 1 | |
| 車站 | chēzhàn | rail station; bus stop | HSK 1 |
| 車票 | chēpiào | ticket for a bus or train | HSK 1 |
| 打車 | dǎchē | to take a taxi (in town); to hitch a lift | HSK 1 |
| 停車 | tíngchē | to pull up (stop one's vehicle); to park | HSK 2 |
| 出租車 | chūzūchē | taxi; (Tw) rental car | HSK 2 |
| 自行車 | zìxíngchē | bicycle; bike | HSK 2 |
| 停車場 | tíngchēchǎng | parking lot; car park | HSK 2 |
| 車輛 | chēliàng | vehicle | HSK 2 |
Characters that contain 車
Learning 車 makes these easier to recognize and write.
Questions about 車
How many strokes are in 車?
車 is written with 7 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 車 mean?
車 (chē) means cart, vehicle; to move in a cart. A common word with it is 开车 (kāichē), meaning "to drive a car (or train etc); (slang) to post sexual content online; to make a sexual jok".
How do you pronounce 車?
車 is pronounced chē, in the first tone (high and level).
What is the simplified form of 車?
車 is a traditional character. Its simplified form is 车, used in mainland China and Singapore.
Why is 車 sometimes read jū instead of chē?
In Chinese chess (象棋 xiàngqí) the rook piece 車 is read jū, and this old reading also appears in some classical texts about war chariots. In everyday words about cars and trains it is always chē.
Does 開車 only mean driving a car?
Its basic meaning is to drive a car, train or other vehicle. In internet slang it can also mean posting or joking about sexual content, so context matters.