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晕车 (yùn chē) — to be carsick, to suffer from motion sickness in a car

Definition

Verb meaning 'to get carsick' — the motion-sickness kind of 晕 (dizzy/faint), triggered by riding in a vehicle. Use 晕 for the general dizzy feeling; add 车 (or 船, 飞机) to specify the cause.

verb
to be carsick, to suffer from motion sickness in a car

Examples

  • 晕车。
    Wǒ měi cì zuò cháng tú qì chē dōu yùn chē.
    I get carsick every time I take a long-distance bus.
  • ，。
    Tā yūn le sān cì chē, hěn nán shòu.
    He got carsick three times, it was very uncomfortable.
  • 晕车？晕车，。
    Nǐ yùn chē ma? rú guǒ yùn chē, kě yǐ chī yí piàn yào.
    Are you carsick? If so, you can take a pill.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

晕yūnfeel dizzy
车chēcar

晕 means “feel dizzy,” and 车 names the vehicle, giving “be carsick.”

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 暈; 晕 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
日日rìSun
Sound part声符shēngfú
軍
軍jūn暈yùn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 暈 first drew 日 (the sun) ringed by lines for a halo, and later paired 日 with the sound part 軍. The simplified 晕 is a later abbreviation.

Open 晕 →

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 6Illness & Symptoms

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