TongTong
Sign in

车夫 (chē fū) — (historical) cart driver, rickshaw puller; chauffeur, hired driver

Definition

A historical/traditional term for a hired driver — a cart or rickshaw puller in older times, or a chauffeur in early modern use. Today it mainly appears in historical texts and literature, not in everyday speech about drivers.

noun
(historical) cart driverrickshaw pullerchauffeurhired driver
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 车夫。
    Yǐ qián hěn duō chéng shì lǐ dōu yǒu lā chē de chē fū.
    In the past, many cities had cart pullers.
  • 车夫。
    Nà wèi chē fū kāi chē fēi cháng wěn.
    That chauffeur drives very smoothly.
  • 车夫，。
    Tā shì zhè lǐ zuì yǒu jīng yàn de chē fū, duì lù de qíng kuàng hěn shú xi.
    He is the most experienced driver here and knows the road conditions well.

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.

车chēvehicle
夫fūman

车 means vehicle and 夫 means man, so it denotes a man who handles a vehicle.

Characters in this word

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 →

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

假借jiǎjièLater borrowed for its sound alone — the picture has nothing to do with today’s meaning.

夫 originally drew a man. It was borrowed purely for its sound to write a pronoun, so the picture and the pronoun meaning are unrelated.

Open 夫 →
Appears in
Professions & Jobs

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.