大车 (dà chē) — large cart (pulled by animals, used for hauling); engineer or driver of a train or ship (colloquial)

Definition

Two unrelated senses: an animal-drawn cart for hauling (farms, freight), and a colloquial term for a train/ship engineer or driver.

noun
large cart (pulled by animals, used for hauling)engineer or driver of a train or ship (colloquial)
Measure word · 辆

Examples

  • 大车。
    Nóng mín yòng dà chē lā liáng shi.
    Farmers use a cart to haul grain.
  • 大车。
    Nà liàng dà chē shì yòng liǎng pǐ mǎ lā de.
    That cart is pulled by two horses.
  • 大车，。
    Tā shì dà chē, kāi le sān shí nián huǒ chē.
    He is an engineer and has driven trains for thirty years.

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.

大dàbig
车chēvehicle

大 'big' plus 车 'vehicle' names a large cart or vehicle.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The form 大 is a picture of a person standing and facing forward, not of someone stretching their arms.

Open 大 →

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 →

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