开夜车 meaning in English
to burn the midnight oil; to work late into the night
Meaning of 开夜车
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- to burn the midnight oil
- to work late into the night
How to use 开夜车
开夜车 is a casual, spoken way to say you stayed up late working or studying, often before a deadline or exam. It works like a verb phrase and can be split, as in 开了一个夜车. Example: 明天考试,我今晚得开夜车。(Míngtiān kǎoshì, wǒ jīnwǎn děi kāi yèchē.) The exam is tomorrow, so I have to pull an all-nighter tonight.
Picture yourself driving 开车 (kāichē) a car 车 (chē) through the night 夜 (yè) while everyone else sleeps. 开夜车 literally means "to drive the night car," so you keep going late into the night.
Common mistake: Learners sometimes take 开夜车 literally and use it for actually driving at night. For real night driving, say 晚上开车 (wǎnshang kāichē) or 夜里开车 instead.
开夜车 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
开 kāi · to open · 4 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
夜 yè · night · 8 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
车 chē · car · 4 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
Related words
Words that share a character with 开夜车.
| 打开 | dǎkāi | to open; to show (a ticket) |
| 开玩笑 | kāi wánxiào | to play a joke; to make fun of; to joke |
| 开车 | kāichē | to drive a car (or train etc); (slang) to post sexual content online; to make a sexual jok |
| 火车 | huǒchē | train |
| 上车 | shàng chē | to get on or into (a bus, train, car etc) |
| 汽车 | qìchē | car; automobile |
| 下车 | xià chē | to get off or out of (a bus, train, car etc) |
| 车上 | chē shang | |
| 开会 | kāihuì | to hold or attend a meeting |
| 车站 | chēzhàn | rail station; bus stop |
| 车票 | chēpiào | ticket for a bus or train |
| 打车 | dǎchē | to take a taxi (in town); to hitch a lift |
Questions about 开夜车
What does 开夜车 mean?
开夜车 (kāi yèchē) means "to burn the midnight oil; to work late into the night".
How do you write 开夜车?
开夜车 is made of 3 characters: 开 (4 strokes), 夜 (8 strokes), 车 (4 strokes). That is 16 strokes in total.
Is 开夜车 an HSK word?
Yes. 开夜车 is on the HSK 6 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How is 开夜车 written in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, 开夜车 is written 開夜車.
Does 开夜车 mean staying up all night or just working late?
It can mean either. It covers working late into the night and pulling a full all-nighter. Context tells you how late it went.
What is the difference between 开夜车 and 熬夜?
熬夜 (áoyè) means staying up late for any reason, including gaming or chatting. 开夜车 is specifically about working or studying late to get something done.