辙 meaning and stroke order
Track, rut; stuck in a rut
How to write 辙, stroke by stroke
16 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
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Meaning of 辙
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- rut; track of a wheel (Taiwan pr. [che4])
- (coll.) the direction of traffic
- a rhyme (of a song, poem etc)
- (dialect) (usu. after 有[you3] or 沒|没[mei2]) way; idea
How 辙 is built
Ideographic (compound meaning) character. Something left 育 by a cart 车 when it moves 攵.
Radical: 车 (cart), shared by 50 characters on this site.
How to remember 辙
A cart 车 rolls along, and the action 攵 leaves something behind 育 in the mud: a wheel track. Picture the three parts side by side, cart, mark, motion, just like a wheel leaving a rut.
辙 (zhé) rarely appears alone in modern speech. It lives in set words like 如出一辙 (rúchūyīzhé, exactly the same) and 重蹈覆辙 (chóngdǎofùzhé, repeat a past mistake). In colloquial northern speech it means a way or idea, as in 我真没辙了。 (Wǒ zhēn méizhé le.) I really have no way out.
Common mistake: Learners often write the middle part as 月 or drop the top of 育, or confuse 辙 with 撤 (chè, withdraw), which has 扌 on the left instead of 车. Remember the cart 车 makes the track, the hand 扌 pulls back.
Common words with 辙
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
辙 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 辙
How many strokes are in 辙?
辙 is written with 16 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 辙 mean?
辙 (zhé) means track, rut; stuck in a rut. A common word with it is 没辙 (méizhé), meaning "at one's wit's end; unable to find a way out".
How do you pronounce 辙?
辙 is pronounced zhé, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 辙?
The radical of 辙 is 车, which carries the idea of "cart". Dictionaries list 辙 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 辙?
The traditional form of 辙 is 轍. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 辙 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Is 辙 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 辙 is part of the HSK 7-9 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
What does 没辙 mean and is it formal?
没辙 (méizhé) means having no way to deal with something, like being out of ideas. It is casual spoken Chinese, common in northern speech, and you can also say 有辙 (yǒuzhé) for having a way.
Why does 辙 relate to rhymes?
In northern folk performance traditions, rhyme groups are called 辙, as in 十三辙 (shísān zhé), the thirteen rhyme categories. 合辙 (hézhé) means a line rhymes properly, like wheels fitting the track.