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倒车 (dǎo chē) — to reverse (a vehicle), to back up

Definition

倒车 specifically means reversing a vehicle (driving backwards). Compare with 后退, which means stepping or moving back more generally, and 倒退, which also covers reversing but extends to 'going backward' figuratively (e.g., regressing).

verb
to reverse (a vehicle)to back up

Examples

  • ，倒车。
    Qián miàn lù bù tōng, wǒ men dé dǎo chē.
    The road ahead is blocked; we need to reverse.
  • 。
    Tā xiǎo xīn dì dǎo le yí cì chē.
    He carefully reversed once.
  • 倒车。
    dǎo chē De shí hou yào kàn kàn hòu miàn yǒu méi yǒu rén.
    When reversing, you should check whether there's anyone behind.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

倒dǎoreverse
车chēvehicle

倒 means back or reverse and 车 means vehicle; the word pictures backing a vehicle.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
亻Written in full as人rén
Sound part声符shēngfú
到
到dào倒dào
Same sound today

倒 combines 亻 (person) with 到, which gives the sound.

Open 倒 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 車; 车 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 車 was drawn as a carriage seen from above, with wheels on both sides and a shaft at the front; the simplified 车 is a later shorthand.

Open 车 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 6Roads & Traffic

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