车管 (chē guǎn) — (abbreviation) vehicle management; vehicle management office (车管所)

Definition

车管 is short for 车管所, the government office that handles vehicle registration, driver's licenses, and vehicle inspections. Learners will most often see it in phrases like 去车管(所)办理…

noun
(abbreviation) vehicle managementvehicle management office (车管所)

Examples

  • 车管。
    Wǒ qù chē guǎn bàn lǐ jià shǐ zhèng huàn zhèng.
    I went to the vehicle management office to renew my driver's license.
  • 车管，。
    chē guǎn De fú wù chuāng kǒu hěn duō, bàn shì hěn kuài.
    The vehicle management office has many service windows, so it's quick to get things done.
  • 车管，。
    Tā zuì jìn zài chē guǎn gōng zuò, fù zé chē liàng nián jiǎn.
    He recently works at the vehicle management office, responsible for vehicle inspections.

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.

车chēvehicle
管guǎnmanagement

车 names vehicles and 管 names their management, together meaning vehicle management.

Characters in this word

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 →

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
竹竹zhúbamboo
Sound part声符shēngfú
官
官guān管guǎn
Same sound today

管 has 竹 (bamboo) on top to show it relates to bamboo, and 官 gives its sound.

Open 管 →

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