車

車 (Kangxi radical 159, 車+0, 7 strokes, cangjie input 十田十 (JWJ), four-corner 5000₆, composition ⿻亘丨 or ⿻二申)

1. Kangxi radical #159, ⾞.

• Appendix:Chinese radical/車
• 俥, 唓, 𡌄, 𡝀, 𡷖, 𢚷, 捙, 𣵐, 陣, 連, 𣒞, 𤉖, 𤥭, 𪨑, 硨, 𦀺, 蛼, 𫌼, 𬦲, 𩳛, 𬵒
• 軋, 𠜥, 𠜒, 𨛩, 斬, 𤭔, 𩒷, 莗, 𭶼, 𫁿, 𫅨, 𠣞, 𣫂, 厙, 庫, 㾝, 𪋀, 閳, 𪢫

• KangXi: page 1239, character 1
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 38172
• Dae Jaweon: page 1712, character 34
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 5, page 3511, character 1
• Unihan data for U+8ECA
• Unihan data for U+F902

Historical forms of the character 車
Shang		Western Zhou	Spring and Autumn	Warring States			Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)		Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions	Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Bronze inscriptions	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Qin slip script	Shizhoupian script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Pictogram (象形) – originally a carriage seen from above. In the oracle bone script, there were large wheels on both sides and a sun shade on the top. Later, when Chinese characters were written vertically, the wheels on both sides were simply drawn in strokes and the loading area was marked with a 田 (OC *l'iːŋ). Therefore, it is important to understand that the current character, 車 (OC *kʰlja, *kla) is a vertical depiction of a carriage.

Note that 倝 (OC *kaːns) and 朝 (OC *ʔr'ew, *r'ew) are not derived from 車 (OC *kʰlja, *kla).

Perhaps a loan from an Indo-European language because horse and chariot were introduced into China around 1200 BC from Inner Asia; compare Tocharian A kukäl, Tocharian B kokale (“wagon; cart”) (Mair, 1990; Bauer, 1994). An older variant survives in Mandarin 軲轆／轱辘 (gūlu, “wheel”) (Bauer, 1994). Alternatively, the word is a derivation by k-prefix from 舁 (OC *la, “to lift”) (Baxter and Sagart, 1998); compare the semantic parallel in Tibetan ཐེག་པ (theg pa, “vehicle; carriage”) (<to support; to carry; to lift).

Pronunciations 1 and 2 are cognate. A similar phonological doublet is 處 (OC *kʰljaʔ, *kʰljas) and 居 (OC *kas) (Schuessler, 2007). Pronunciation 2 is traditionally regarded as the older pronunciation.

人力三輪車

車

1. (countable) land wheeled vehicle; (specifically) car (Classifier: 輛／辆 m; 部 m c; 臺／台 m mn; 架 c; 頂／顶 mn; 張／张 mn-t)

   汽車／汽车  ―  qìchē  ―  car

   火車／火车  ―  huǒchē  ―  train

   街上一輛車都沒有。 [MSC, trad.]
   街上一辆车都没有。 [MSC, simp.]

   Jiē shàng yī liàng chē dōu méiyǒu. [Pinyin]

   There is not even one car on the street.

   去車行買新車 [Cantonese, trad.]
   去车行买新车 [Cantonese, simp.]

   heoi³ ce¹ hong^4-2 maai⁵ san¹ ce¹ [Jyutping]

   to buy a new car at a car dealership

   • 有車隣隣，有馬白顛。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad.]
     有车邻邻，有马白颠。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Classic of Poetry, c. 11^th – 7^th centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Yǒu chē línlín, yǒu mǎ bái diān. [Pinyin]

     He has many carriages, giving forth their lin-lin;
     He has horses with their white foreheads.

   • 阿Q被抬上了一輛沒有蓬的車，幾個短衣人物也和他同坐在一處。 [MSC, trad.]
     阿Q被抬上了一辆没有蓬的车，几个短衣人物也和他同坐在一处。 [MSC, simp.]

     From: Lu Xun, 1922. The True Story of Ah Q (《阿Q正傳》)

     Āqiū bèi tái shàng le yī liàng méiyǒu péng de chē, jǐ ge duǎnyī rénwù yě hé tā tóng zuò zài yī chù. [Pinyin]

     Ah Q was lifted on to an uncovered cart, and several men in short jackets sat down with him.

2. wheeled instrument

   滑車／滑车  ―  huáchē  ―  pulley

   紡車／纺车  ―  fǎngchē  ―  spinning wheel

3. machine; instrument (Classifier: 部 m; 臺／台 m)

   試車／试车  ―  shìchē  ―  to test a new machine

4. to lathe
5. to lift water using a 水車／水车 (“old-style machine that is human or animal-powered and lifts water”)
6. (dialectal, including Cantonese, Wu, Min Bei, Min Nan, Liuzhou Mandarin) to transport using a vehicle

   你可唔可以車我去地鐵站呀？ [Cantonese, trad.]
   你可唔可以车我去地铁站呀？ [Cantonese, simp.]

   nei⁵ ho² m⁴ ho² ji⁵ ce¹ ngo⁵ heoi³ dei⁶ tit³ zaam⁶ aa³? [Jyutping]

   Can you drive me to the MTR station?

7. to tailor or sew using a sewing machine

   車衫／车衫 [Cantonese]  ―  ce¹ saam¹ [Jyutping]  ―  to sew clothes with a sewing machine

8. (dialectal) to turn (one's body, etc.)
9. (Sichuanese) to rotate; to turn
10. (Internet slang) pornography; lewd content
11. Classifier for loads of things carried by a vehicle.
12. a surname

• 車／车 (chē) is a collective term for all types of vehicles with wheel(s). Additional morphemes are added in front to specify the type of the vehicle. For example:

  汽車／汽车  ―  qìchē  ―  car

  火車／火车  ―  huǒchē  ―  train

  自行車／自行车  ―  zìxíngchē  ―  bicycle

  嬰兒車／婴儿车  ―  yīng'érchē  ―  pram

• (vehicle):

車

車

1. (xiangqi) chariot; rook (Classifier: 隻／只 c)
2. (chess) rook

• (Chinese chess pieces) 帥／帅/將／将, 仕/士, 相/象, 俥／伡/車／车, 傌／骂/馬／马, 炮/砲／炮, 兵/卒

Others:

• → Vietnamese: xe (車, “wheeled vehicle”)
• → Zhuang: ci (“vehicle”)

• “車”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學／香港中文大学 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• “Entry #3408”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (in Chinese and Min Nan), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2011.

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. vehicle

• Go-on: しゃ (sha, Jōyō)^{←しや (sya, historical)}; こ (ko)
• Kan-on: しゃ (sha, Jōyō)^{←しや (sya, historical)}; きょ (kyo)^{←きよ (kyo, historical)}
• Kun: くるま (kuruma, 車, Jōyō)

From Middle Chinese 車 (MC t͡ɕʰia).

• On’yomi: Goon
• IPA^(key): [ɕa̠]

車(しゃ) • (-sha) 

1. used to count vehicles

車(しゃ) • (sha) 

1. vehicle

   韓(かん)国(こく)車(しゃ)

   Kankoku-sha

   South Korean vehicle

2. train car

   Synonym: 車両

   女(じょ)性(せい)専(せん)用(よう)車(しゃ)

   josei-sen'yō-sha

   car for women only

From Old Japanese. Appears in the Man'yōshū completed some time after 759 CE, with the ideographic spelling 車.[1]

Assuming an initial meaning of wheel, may be a compound of くる (kuru, related to spinning or rotating, as in 繰る (kuru, “to spin (as in thread)”), 枢 (kuru, “hinge”), くるくる (kurukuru, “spinningly, round and round”), 転めく (kurumeku, “to spin round and round, to rotate; to be dizzy”)) +‎ ま (ma, a suffix added to various parts of speech to form an indeclinable word indicating state).

Speculatively, compare also Sanskrit चक्र (cakrá) and English wheel (< Proto-Indo-European *kʷékʷlos) and hence a possible doublet of チャクラ (chakura) and チャクラム (chakuramu).

• Kun’yomi
• (Tokyo) くるま [kùrúmá] (Heiban – [0])[2][3]
• IPA^(key): [kɯ̟ᵝɾɯ̟ᵝma̠]

車(くるま) • (kuruma)  (counter 台)

1. a car, an automobile, a carriage, a cart
2. a wheel, a caster
3. something wheel-shaped
4. a style of 紋 (mon, “family crest”)
5. short for various terms:
   1. short for 車海老 (kuruma ebi): a prawn
   2. short for 車懸 (kuruma-gakari): “wheel formation”, a battle tactic where units attack in staged waves in order to prevent the opponent from resting
   3. short for 肩車 (kata-guruma): riding on one's shoulders, piggyback
   4. short for 手車 (te-guruma): a handcart, a wheelbarrow
   5. short for 車座 (kuruma za): sitting in a circle
6. (obsolete) during the Edo period, in the red-light district in Ōsaka, a prostitute whose services cost four 匁 (monme) and three 分 (bun) (possibly in reference to the cost of a carriage ride)

• 車(くるま)椅子(いす) (kurumaisu, “wheelchair”)

• 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan

From Middle Chinese 車 (MC t͡ɕʰia).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [t͡ɕʰa̠]
• Phonetic hangul: [차]

Wikisource 車 (eumhun 수레 차 (sure cha))

1. Hanja form^? of 차 (“car; automobile; vehicle”).
2. Hanja form^? of 차 (“cart; wheeled machinery”).