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下车 (xià chē) — to get off a vehicle (car, bus, train, etc.)

Definition

A separable verb: 下 (get off) + 车 (vehicle). The split is required — 下了车/下过一次车 — and the object is the vehicle one exits, paired with 上车 (get on).

verb
to get off a vehicle (car, bus, train, etc.)

Examples

  • 下车。
    Qǐng zài zhōng diǎn zhàn xià chē.
    Please get off at the terminal.
  • ，。
    Tā xià le chē, cháo wǒ zǒu lái.
    He got out of the car and walked toward me.
  • ，。
    Wǒ zhī xià le yí cì chē, rán hòu yì zhí zài chē shàng děng nǐ.
    I only got off once, then waited in the car for you the whole time.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

下xiàget off
车chēvehicle

下 get off 车 vehicle: getting off a carriage links idiomatically to arriving to take up a post.

Characters in this word

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

下 is drawn as a short horizontal line below a long curved line.

Open 下 →

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

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