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开车 (kāi chē) — to drive a car

Definition

You drive a vehicle you operate yourself. 打车 means taking a taxi — someone else drives.

verb
to drive a car

Examples

  • 开车。
    Mā ma kāi chē qù shāng diàn.
    Mom drives to the store.
  • 。
    Tā kāi le yí cì chē.
    He drove a car once.
  • 开车。
    Wǒ xiàn zài bù kāi chē.
    I'm not driving now.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

开kāidrive
车chēcar

开 means drive, and 车 is the car being driven.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 開; 开 is its simplified writing.

  • 門門méndoor
  • 一一yīlatch and/or wooden pole that shuts a door
  • 廾廾gǒnga pair of hands

The traditional form 開 shows 廾, a pair of hands, and 一, a latch or pole, inside 門, a door: hands opening a latched door. The simplified 开 is a shorthand form, so its parts are not the original pieces.

Open 开 →

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 →

Grammar

Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 1Roads & Traffic2000 Most Frequent Chinese Words3000 Most Frequent Chinese Words5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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