Meaning of 汽油
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- gasoline
How to use 汽油
汽油 is the everyday word for gasoline or petrol, used when talking about cars, fuel prices, and filling up. It often appears with verbs like 加 (jiā, to add) or 用 (yòng, to use). Example: 汽油又涨价了。(Qìyóu yòu zhǎngjià le.) Gas prices went up again.
汽 (qì) means vapor or steam and 油 (yóu) means oil, so 汽油 is the oil that turns easily into vapor: gasoline. Both characters have the water radical 氵 on the left, which fits two kinds of liquid.
Common mistake: Learners often write 气 (qì, air) instead of 汽 because they sound the same, but 汽油 always takes the water radical 氵. Also keep the tones as fourth plus second, qìyóu, not qíyóu.
汽油 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.
汽 qì · gasoline · 7 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
油 yóu · oil · 8 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
Related words
Words that share a character with 汽油.
| 汽车 | qìchē | car; automobile |
| 加油 | jiāyóu | to add oil; to top up with gas; to refuel; to accelerate; to step on the gas |
| 公共汽车 | gōnggòng qìchē | bus |
| 石油 | shíyóu | oil; petroleum |
| 汽水 | qìshuǐ | soda pop; carbonated soft drink |
| 加油站 | jiāyóuzhàn | gas station |
| 酱油 | jiàngyóu | soy sauce |
| 油画 | yóuhuà | oil painting |
| 燃油 | rányóu | fuel oil |
| 香油 | xiāngyóu | sesame oil; perfumed oil |
| 奶油 | nǎiyóu | cream; butter |
| 汽车旅馆 | qìchēlǚguǎn | motel |
Questions about 汽油
What does 汽油 mean?
汽油 (qìyóu) means "gasoline" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 汽油?
汽油 is made of 2 characters: 汽 (7 strokes), 油 (8 strokes). That is 15 strokes in total.
Is 汽油 an HSK word?
Yes. 汽油 is on the HSK 4 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
What is the difference between 汽油 and 石油?
石油 (shíyóu) is crude oil or petroleum as it comes out of the ground. 汽油 (qìyóu) is gasoline, the refined fuel you put in a car.
How do I say I need to fill up the car in Chinese?
The most natural phrase is 我要去加油。(Wǒ yào qù jiāyóu.) Chinese speakers usually say 加油 (jiāyóu) rather than 加汽油, and the place is 加油站 (jiāyóuzhàn), a gas station.