车管所 (chē guǎn suǒ) — vehicle management office, motor vehicle registration office (abbreviation)

Definition

Short for 车辆管理所: the government office that handles vehicle registration, driver's licenses, and related paperwork.

noun
vehicle management office, motor vehicle registration office (abbreviation)

Examples

  • 车管所。
    Wǒ míng tiān qù chē guǎn suǒ bàn jià zhào.
    I'm going to the vehicle management office tomorrow to process my driver's license.
  • 车管所？
    chē guǎn suǒ Zhōu mò kāi mén ma?
    Is the vehicle management office open on weekends?
  • 车管所。
    Tā zài chē guǎn suǒ pái le sān gè xiǎo shí de duì.
    He waited in line at the vehicle management office for three hours.

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.

车管vehicle management
车chēvehicle管guǎnmanagement
偏正Modifier + head
所suǒoffice

车 means vehicle, 管 means management, and 所 means office, so this is an office for managing vehicles.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
竹竹zhúbamboo
Sound part声符shēngfú
官
官guān管guǎn
Same sound today

管 has 竹 (bamboo) on top to show it relates to bamboo, and 官 gives its sound.

Open 管 →

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
斤斤jīnaxe
Sound part声符shēngfú
戶
戶hù所suǒ
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

所 pairs 斤, an axe, with 戶, which gives the sound hù; the old meaning was the sound of logging.

Open 所 →
Appears in
Roads & TrafficPublic Facilities

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