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警车 (jǐng chē) — police car, police vehicle

Definition

noun
police carpolice vehicle
Measure word · 辆

Examples

  • 警车。
    Lù shang yǒu yí liàng jǐng chē zài xún luó.
    There is a police car patrolling on the road.
  • 警车。
    jǐng chē De jǐng dí shēng yuè lái yuè jìn le.
    The siren of the police car is getting closer.
  • 警车。
    Tā men kàn jiàn jǐng chē jiù gǎn jǐn pǎo kāi le.
    They ran away quickly when they saw the police car.

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.

警jǐngpolice
车chēcar

警 (police) specifies the 车 (car) as a police 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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yánspoken language, speech
Sound part声符shēngfú
敬
敬jìng警
Same sound today

警 places 言 (speech) below 敬; 敬 gives the sound.

Open 警 →

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
Crime & PoliceVehicles

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