TongTong
Sign in

跑车 (pǎo chē) — sports car (high-performance two-door car); racing bike (less common; usually 赛车 is used instead)

Definition

跑车 (pǎochē) means 'sports car' — a high-performance two-door car. Don't confuse it with 赛车 (sàichē), which is a vehicle built specifically for racing.

noun
sports car (high-performance two-door car)racing bike (less common; usually 赛车 is used instead)
Measure word · 辆

Examples

  • 跑车，。
    Tā gāng mǎi le yí liàng hóng sè pǎo chē, měi tiān kāi zhe dōu fēng.
    He just bought a red sports car and drives it around every day.
  • 跑车，。
    Zhè liàng pǎo chē de yǐn qíng shēng fēi cháng xiǎng, hěn xī yǐn rén.
    The engine sound of this sports car is very loud and attractive.
  • 跑车。
    Tā zài sài dào shàng shì jià le yí liàng dé guó pǎo chē.
    He test-drove a German sports car on the racetrack.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

跑pǎorun
车chēvehicle

跑 suggests fast running and 车 is a vehicle; together it names a vehicle built for speed.

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
足足zúfoot
Sound part声符shēngfú
包
包bāo跑pǎo
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

跑 combines 足, showing a foot, with 包, which gives the sound.

Open 跑 →

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
Vehicles

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.