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刹车 (shā chē) — (noun) brake (device on a vehicle); (verb) to brake, to stop a moving vehicle; (verb) to stop, to put a halt to (a habit, a trend)

Definition

刹车 is the verb/noun pair for actively using a vehicle's brake — slowing or stopping a car. Distinct from 停车 ('park' or 'come to a stop'), which is about halting and staying put. 闸 is the mechanical device itself (technical/specialized).

noun
brake (device on a vehicle)
verb
to braketo stop a moving vehicleto stopto put a halt to (a habit, a trend)
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • ，刹车！
    Qián biān yǒu zhàng ài wù, kuài shā chē!
    There's an obstacle ahead, brake quickly!
  • ，。
    Tā chà le yí xià chē, ràng xíng rén xiān guò.
    He braked for a moment to let pedestrians cross first.
  • 刹车。
    Nǐ xū yào shā chē diào tuō yán de huài xí guàn.
    You need to stop the bad habit of procrastination.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

刹chàstop
车chēvehicle

刹 means to stop, and 车 is a vehicle; together they mean to brake 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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 剎; 刹 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
刂Written in full as刀dāo
Sound part声符shēngfú
殺
殺shā剎shā
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 剎 combines 殺 for sound with 刂 (written fully as 刀, a knife) for meaning; the simplified 刹 is a later abbreviation.

Open 刹 →

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 6HSK 2.0 Level 6Vehicles5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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