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驾车 (jià chē) — to drive a vehicle (formal, often in written or official contexts)

Definition

驾车 (jià chē) is the formal, written-style 'to drive a vehicle' — used in news, legal, and official contexts rather than everyday speech, where 开车 is more common.

verb
to drive a vehicle (formal, often in written or official contexts)

Examples

  • 驾车。
    Jiǔ hòu jià chē shì wéi fǎ de.
    Drunk driving is illegal.
  • 驾车。
    Tā de jià chē jì shù hěn hǎo.
    His driving skills are very good.
  • 。
    Tā cóng lái méi yǒu jià guò chē.
    He has never driven a car before.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

驾jiàdrive
车chēvehicle

It joins 驾, meaning drive or harness, with 车, meaning vehicle, to mean driving 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 駕; 驾 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
馬馬mǎ
Sound part声符shēngfú
加
加jiā駕jià
Same sound today

In the traditional form 駕, 馬 relates to a horse, and 加 gives the sound; this story is about 駕, not the simplified 驾.

Open 驾 →

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
Roads & Traffic

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