車

車 U+8ECA, 車 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-8ECA ← 軉 [U+8EC9] CJK Unified Ideographs 軋 → [U+8ECB]

⾞ U+2F9E, ⾞ KANGXI RADICAL CART ← ⾝ [U+2F9D] Kangxi Radicals ⾟ → [U+2F9F]

車 U+F902, 車 CJK COMPATIBILITY IDEOGRAPH-F902 ← 更 [U+F901] CJK Compatibility Ideographs 賈 → [U+F903]

Stroke order

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, 捙, 陣, 連, 硨, 蛼, 軋, 軙, 斬, 軍, 莗, 厙, 庫, 㾝, 閳

• Kangxi Dictionary: 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

trad.		車
simp.		车*
alternative forms		𠦴 𨏖

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 the 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), from Proto-Tocharian *kuk(ä)le, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷékʷlos, a form of *kʷel- (“to turn”). Cognate with English wheel, Ancient Greek κύκλος (kúklos), Lithuanian kaklas (“neck”), etc.

Sagart and Baxter (2025) specifically pinpoint descent from some reflex of Proto-Indo-Iranian *čakrám. They also suppose that the variation of pronunciations could be attributed to separate borrowing events from Indo-Aryan and Iranian.

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.

The sense of lewd content is derived from 老司機 / 老司机 (lǎosījī).

車

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

   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 device, appliance, instrument or apparatus

   滑車／滑车  ―  huáchē  ―  pulley

   紡車／纺车  ―  fǎngchē  ―  spinning wheel

3. machine; rig; engine; motor; locomotive; tractor; truck; lorry (Classifier: 部 m; 臺／台 m)

   試車／试车  ―  shìchē  ―  to test a new machine

4. (Cantonese) driving (action of operating a vehicle); driving skills (Classifier: 手 c)
5. to lathe
6. to lift water using a 水車／水车 (“old-style machine that is human or animal-powered and lifts water”)
7. (dialectal, including Cantonese, Wu, Northern Min, Southern Min, 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?

8. to tailor or sew using a sewing machine

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

9. (Cantonese) to hit violently

   大巴大巴車落佢塊面度 [Cantonese, trad.]
   大巴大巴车落佢块面度 [Cantonese, simp.]

   daai⁶ baa¹ daai⁶ baa¹ ce¹ lok⁶ keoi⁵ faai³ min⁶ dou⁶ [Jyutping]

   to hit his face with multiple violent slaps

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

    • 一車炭，千餘斤，官使驅將惜不得。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
      一车炭，千余斤，官使驱将惜不得。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

      From: c. 8th century, Bai Juyi (白居易), 賣炭翁

      Yī chē tàn, qiān yú jīn, guān shǐ qū jiāng xī bùdé. [Pinyin]

      (please add an English translation of this usage example)

14. 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

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

• (Chinese chess pieces) 帥 / 帅 (shuài) / 將 / 将 (jiàng), 仕 (shì) / 士 (shì), 相 / 象 (xiàng), 俥 / 伡 / 車 / 车 (jū), 傌 / 㐷 / 馬 / 马 (mǎ), 炮 / 砲 / 炮, 兵 (bīng) / 卒 (zú)

Others:

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

Chess pieces in Mandarin · 國際象棋棋子 / 国际象棋棋子 (guójì xiàngqí qízǐ) (layout · text)
王 (wáng), 國王 / 国王 (guówáng)	后 (hòu), 皇后 (huánghòu)	車 / 车 (jū), 城堡 (chéngbǎo)	象 (xiàng), 主教 (zhǔjiào)	馬 / 马 (mǎ), 騎士 / 骑士 (qíshì)	兵 (bīng)

• “車”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[1], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• “車”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwanese Taigi] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2025.
• 李如龙 [Li, Ru-long], 刘福铸 [Liu, Fu-zhu], 吴华英 [Wu, Hua-ying], 黄国城 [Huang, Guo-cheng] (2019) “车（马～）”, in 莆仙方言调查报告 [Investigation Report on Puxian Dialect] (overall work in Mandarin and Puxian Min), Xiamen University Press, →ISBN, page 133.
• 李如龙 [Li, Ru-long], 刘福铸 [Liu, Fu-zhu], 吴华英 [Wu, Hua-ying], 黄国城 [Huang, Guo-cheng] (2019) “车（～马炮）”, in 莆仙方言调查报告 [Investigation Report on Puxian Dialect] (overall work in Mandarin and Puxian Min), Xiamen University Press, →ISBN, page 140.

(First grade 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)

Kanji in this term
車
しゃ Grade: 1
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese 車 (MC tsyhae).

• 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

Kanji in this term
車
くるま Grade: 1
kun'yomi

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).

• (Tokyo) くるま [kùrúmá] (Heiban – [0])^[2][3]
• IPA^(key): [kɯ̟ɾɯ̟ma̠]

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)

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:娼婦

• 車(くるま)椅子(いす) (kurumaisu, “wheelchair”)
• 車花(クルマバナ) (kurumabana)

• → Marshallese: kurm̧a
• → Korean: 구루마 (guruma)

• Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN

From Middle Chinese 車 (MC tsyhae).

Historical Readings
Dongguk Jeongun Reading
Dongguk Jeongun, 1448	챵 (Yale: chyà)
Middle Korean
Text	Eumhun
	Gloss (hun)	Reading
Hunmong Jahoe, 1527[2]	又音	챠 (Yale: chyà)
Early Modern Korean
Text	Eumhun
	Gloss (hun)	Reading
Juhae Cheonjamun, 1804	수뤼 (surwi)	챠 (cha)

• (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”)

This reading is used as a standalone word to mean "car."

From Middle Chinese 車 (MC kjo).

Historical Readings
Dongguk Jeongun Reading
Dongguk Jeongun, 1448	겅 (Yale: kè)
Middle Korean
Text	Eumhun
	Gloss (hun)	Reading
Hunmong Jahoe, 1527[3]	술위〮 (Yale: swùlGwúy)	거 (Yale: kè)
Early Modern Korean
Text	Eumhun
	Gloss (hun)	Reading
Juhae Cheonjamun, 1804	수뤼 (surwi)	거 (geo)

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [kʌ̹]
• Phonetic hangul: [거]

車 (eumhun 수레 거 (sure geo))

1. (only in compounds) hanja form^? of 거 (“cart; wheeled machinery”)

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [4]

(First grade kyōiku kanji)

• Kun: く゚るまー (ngurumā, 車)

From Proto-Ryukyuan *kuruma, from Proto-Japonic *kuruma.

• IPA^(key): /kˀuɾumaː/

車(く゚るまー) (ngurumā) 

1. car
2. wheel

(First grade kyōiku kanji)

• Kun: くるま (kuruma, 車, Jōyō)

From Proto-Ryukyuan *kuruma, from Proto-Japonic *kuruma.

• IPA^(key): /kuɾuma/

車(くるま) (kuruma) 

1. car
2. wheel

(First grade kyōiku kanji)

• On (unclassified): さ (sa)
• Kun: くるま (kuruma, 車, Jōyō)

From Proto-Ryukyuan *kuruma, from Proto-Japonic *kuruma.

• IPA^(key): /kuɾuma/

車(くるま) (kuruma) 

1. car
2. wheel

車 (xa)

1. Nôm form of xa (“to search, to look for”).

   役富貴古媒車拾

   Viểc phú quý cổ moi xa thắp

   (please add an English translation of this usage example)

• Dương Nhật Thanh, Hoàng Tuấn Nam (2003) Hoàng Triều Ân, editor, Từ điển chữ Nôm Tày [A Dictionary of (chữ) Nôm Tày]‎^[5] (in Tày and Vietnamese), Hanoi: Nhà xuất bản Khoa học xã hội [Social Sciences Publishing House]

車: Hán Nôm readings: xa, xe, xế

1. a car
2. (xiangqi) any piece labeled with 車; the chariot/rook.

• 車踏 (xe đạp)

(First grade kyōiku kanji)

• Kun: くるま (kuruma, 車, Jōyō)

From Proto-Ryukyuan *kuruma, from Proto-Japonic *kuruma.

• IPA^(key): /kuɾuma/

車(くるま) (kuruma) 

1. car
2. wheel

(First grade kyōiku kanji)

• Kun: くるま (kuruma, 車, Jōyō)

From Proto-Ryukyuan *kuruma, from Proto-Japonic *kuruma.

• IPA^(key): /kuɾuma/

車(くるま) (kuruma) 

1. car
2. wheel