Meaning of 汽车
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- car
- automobile
- bus
Measure word: 輛|辆
How to use 汽车
汽车 is the general word for a motor vehicle, common in writing, signs, and words like 汽车站 (bus station). In casual speech people usually just say 车 (chē). Example: 我家有一辆汽车。(Wǒ jiā yǒu yí liàng qìchē.) My family has a car.
汽 (qì) means steam or vapor, and 车 (chē) means vehicle, so a 汽车 is a vehicle that runs on gas. Picture 车 as a cart seen from above, with an axle running through the middle.
Common mistake: Learners often write 汽 (qì, steam) as 气 (qì, air) because they sound the same. 汽 has the water radical 氵 on the left. Also note that in Chinese 汽车 does not mean train. A train is 火车 (huǒchē).
汽车 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.
汽 qì · gasoline · 7 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
车 chē · car · 4 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
Related words
Words that share a character with 汽车.
| 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) |
| 下车 | xià chē | to get off or out of (a bus, train, car etc) |
| 车上 | chē shang | |
| 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 |
| 停车 | tíngchē | to pull up (stop one's vehicle); to park |
| 出租车 | chūzūchē | taxi; (Tw) rental car |
| 自行车 | zìxíngchē | bicycle; bike |
| 停车场 | tíngchēchǎng | parking lot; car park |
Questions about 汽车
What does 汽车 mean?
汽车 (qìchē) means "car; automobile" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 汽车?
汽车 is made of 2 characters: 汽 (7 strokes), 车 (4 strokes). That is 11 strokes in total.
Is 汽车 an HSK word?
Yes. 汽车 is on the HSK 1 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How is 汽车 written in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, 汽车 is written 汽車.
What measure word is used with 汽车?
Use 辆 (liàng), as in 一辆汽车 (yí liàng qìchē), one car. In casual speech you may also hear 台 (tái) in some regions.
Does 汽车 mean car or bus?
It covers both, since it means any motor vehicle. To be specific, a car is 小汽车 (xiǎo qìchē) and a bus is 公共汽车 (gōnggòng qìchē) or 公交车 (gōngjiāochē).