Zi:车

车(F​車) [chē] car; cart, carriage; chariot; wagon; wheeled vehicle; vehicle; (radical 159, 车​部) [jū] a game piece in Chinese chess (​象​棋)

2 monosyllabic entries in The ABC Chinese-English Comprehensive Dictionary (namespace Ci):

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The character 车/​車 chē ‘cart/carriage/chariot/car’ derives from old pictographs depicting a cart/carriage/chariot; the full form ​車 is the view from above, of the two wheels (horizontal strokes above and below), with ​田 in the middle sketching the platform/chassis/body sitting atop the axel, and a vertical line representing the axel; in the simple form 车 the chassis is abbrev., and the axel is shortened (suggesting a spring suspension).
    The Shuōwén Seal form of ​車 chē ‘cart’ writes a shape like ​田 in the middle, representing the bed/platform of the cart (body/chassis of the carriage); the horizontal lines above and below abbrev. the two wheels (on either side of the chassis) as seen from above; or as can be seen from old graphs reinterpreted in the Seal, the ​田 shape draws only one of the two wheels; a vertical line represents the transverse cart axel; the old Seal form ​𨏖 reflects stylized features of much older graphs in which the ​戔 shape depicts the ​𠓜 double yoke/harness (attaching oxen/horses to the shafts), and the two ​車 shapes correspond to depictions of the two wheels (attached to each axel end with linchpins); the horizontal lines may represent the linchpins, or more likely the cart shafts.
    Older graphs associated with ​車 write the two spoked wheels with a shape like ​田, attached to the axel (vertical line), with a horizontal line for the shaft attaching the axel to the yoke; the yoke is drawn like ​戔 in the old Seal form ​𨏖, and there are three shapes like ​田, two of which write the two wheels (above and below), and the third the platform/chassis in the middle; in one old graph the chassis is square (rather than circular), and clearly drawn as if sitting atop the axel.
    Note: As a component in other characters, the meanings of 车/​車 relate to ‘carts/cars and their parts’, and also to cart-related motions/actions (turn, drive, carry/load).
    Compare: ​库/​庫 kù ‘military garage/arsenal’ (SW), in which 车/​車 chē/jū (phonosemantic).
    Compare: ​轮/​輪 lún ‘spoked wheel’; ​辐/​輻 fú ‘spokes’; ​軎 wèi ‘ends of a cart/carriage axel’; ​辖/​轄 xiá ‘linchpin’; ​辕/​轅 yuán ‘cart pole/shafts’.
    Compare: ​载/​載(​𨌏) zài ‘carry/load’; ​舆/​輿 yú ‘sedan chair’; ​军/​軍(​𠣞) jūn ‘army/unit (of 4,000 men)’.
    Compare: ​转/​轉 zhuǎn ‘turn’, zhuàn ‘rotate/spin’; ​辗/​輾 zhǎn ‘roll over’.
    Note: The ​丨 vertical stroke of the independent character is written last; but when 车 occurs as a component on the left side of a character (as in ​轮 lún ‘wheel’), then the rising stroke ​ is last, and ​丨 is the penultimate (next to last) stroke.
    车(​車) is the 159th of the 214 radicals.
►references: Wieger:167a; Karlgren:AD1189; Hànyǔ Dà Zìdiǎn:5.3511.2; Lindqvist:141; Bǐshùn Guīfàn:006.1.05; Wáng(1993):142; EDOC:0
►components: ​丨
►Cantonese: che\ geui\
►stroke 车 (... strokes)   
►list characters containing 车 as a component
►list words containing 车 (most common words first)
Unicode: U+8F66
►web links for ‘车’
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