车 meaning and stroke order
Car; vehicle; machine
How to write 车, stroke by stroke
4 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
Meaning of 车
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 车 is built
Pictographic character. Simplified form of 車, a cart with two wheels, seen from above.
How to remember 车
车 (chē) comes from the older form 車, a picture of a two-wheeled cart seen from above. The long vertical stroke is the axle line running through the cart, and the horizontal strokes are the wheels and body.
车 is the general word for any wheeled vehicle and appears in many everyday words like 汽车 (qìchē, car), 火车 (huǒchē, train) and 车站 (chēzhàn, station). Chinese uses 上车 and 下车 for getting on and off. Example: 我们在这儿下车。(Wǒmen zài zhèr xià chē.) We get off here.
Common mistake: Learners often write 车 like 东 (dōng, east) or add an extra stroke. 车 has only four strokes and no dots, while 东 has two dots at the bottom. Also note that 汽车 means a car, not a steam vehicle, even though 汽 means steam.
Common words with 车
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 开车 | kāichē | to drive a car (or train etc); (slang) to post sexual content online; to make a sexual jok | HSK 1 |
| 火车 | huǒchē | train | HSK 1 |
| 上车 | shàng chē | to get on or into (a bus, train, car etc) | HSK 1 |
| 汽车 | qìchē | car; automobile | HSK 1 |
| 下车 | xià chē | to get off or out of (a bus, train, car etc) | HSK 1 |
| 车上 | chē shang | HSK 1 | |
| 车站 | chēzhàn | rail station; bus stop | HSK 1 |
| 车票 | chēpiào | ticket for a bus or train | HSK 1 |
| 打车 | dǎchē | to take a taxi (in town); to hitch a lift | HSK 1 |
| 停车 | tíngchē | to pull up (stop one's vehicle); to park | HSK 2 |
| 出租车 | chūzūchē | taxi; (Tw) rental car | HSK 2 |
| 自行车 | zìxíngchē | bicycle; bike | HSK 2 |
| 停车场 | tíngchēchǎng | parking lot; car park | HSK 2 |
| 车辆 | chēliàng | vehicle | HSK 2 |
车 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Characters that contain 车
Learning 车 makes these easier to recognize and write.
Questions about 车
How many strokes are in 车?
车 is written with 4 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 车 mean?
车 (chē) means car; vehicle; machine. 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 车?
车 is pronounced chē, in the first tone (high and level).
What is the traditional form of 车?
The traditional form of 车 is 車. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 车 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Is 车 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 车 is part of the HSK 1 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard, and you are expected to write it by hand from HSK 1.
When is 车 pronounced jū instead of chē?
It is read jū for the rook piece in Chinese chess and in some archaic uses meaning war chariot. In everyday words about vehicles it is always chē.
Does 开车 have any other meaning besides driving?
Yes. Its main meaning is to drive a car or train, but in internet slang 开车 can also mean posting sexual content or making a dirty joke. Context makes the meaning clear.