车辙 (chē zhé) — rut (groove left by wheels in a road); track, route (for vehicles)

Definition

Literally "cart rut" — the physical groove worn into a road by repeated wheel traffic. Distinct from a route or path: 轨道 is the engineered rail/track, while 车辙 is the imprint left by vehicles.

noun
rut (groove left by wheels in a road)trackroute (for vehicles)
Measure word · 道

Examples

  • 车辙。
    Yǔ hòu de tǔ lù shang liú xià le shēn shēn de yì chē zhé.
    Deep ruts were left on the dirt road after the rain.
  • 车辙。
    Gǔ dài mǎ chē de chē zhé zhì jīn réng qīng xī kě jiàn.
    The ruts of ancient horse-drawn carts are still clearly visible.
  • 车辙，。
    Zhè tiáo lǎo lù yǐ jīng méi yǒu chē zhé le, shuō míng hěn jiǔ méi rén zǒu.
    This old road no longer has any ruts, which means no one has used it for a long time.

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
辙zhérut

车 vehicle + 辙 rut, the rut left by a vehicle.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 轍; 辙 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
車車jūwagon
Sound part声符shēngfú
徹
徹chè轍zhé
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 轍 combines 車 (wagon) with a sound component 徹, and the meaning is wagon tracks; the simplified 辙 is a shorthand.

Open 辙 →

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