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车祸 (chē huò) — traffic accident, car crash

Definition

车祸 (chē huò) is specifically a car/vehicle crash, narrower than 事故 which covers any accident (work, industrial, etc.).

noun
traffic accidentcar crash
Measure word · 场

Examples

  • 车祸。
    Tā kāi chē de shí hou yù dào le yì chǎng chē huò.
    He encountered a traffic accident while driving.
  • 车祸。
    Zhè chǎng chē huò zào chéng le hěn dà de má fan.
    This car crash caused a lot of trouble.
  • 车祸，。
    chē huò Yǐ hòu, lù shang dǔ le yí gè xiǎo shí.
    After the accident, the road was blocked for an hour.

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
祸huòmishap

车 points to vehicles, and 祸 points to the mishap, so together they mean a traffic accident.

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 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 禍; 祸 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
示示shìsacrifice
Sound part声符shēngfú
咼
咼wāi禍huò
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The simplified 祸 is an abbreviation of traditional 禍, which pairs 示 (sacrifice) with 咼 to show pronunciation.

Open 祸 →
Appears in
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