cart, vehicle

JLPT N5 4 strokes

Words with this Kanji

Basic Meaning

The character (chē) primarily means 'vehicle' or 'car' in modern Mandarin. It can refer to any wheeled transport, including cars, trucks, or carts.

Common Uses

  1. Referring to personal vehicles: (a car).
  2. Talking about traffic or vehicles in general: (many vehicles).
  3. Specific types of vehicles combined with other characters, e.g., 火车 (train), 自行车 (bicycle).

Collocations and Patterns

  • : a measure word phrase for cars or vehicles.
  • 火车: train, literally 'fire vehicle'.
  • 车站: station for vehicles.

Usage Notes

is a very common and neutral word used in everyday conversation. It is often combined with measure words like (liàng) when counting vehicles. Avoid confusing with , which is a measure word, not a noun.

Common Confusion

Don't confuse (vehicle) with 车站 (station) or 车库 (garage), which are compound words. Also, is different from (horse), which was historically a common mode of transport before vehicles.

Example Sentences

I bought a new car.

There are many vehicles on this road.

Trains run faster than cars.