HSK Guide

Radical 159a cart, a carriage; any wheeled vehicle; a machine

chē (first tone, high and level)

a cart, a carriage; any wheeled vehicle; a machine

Radical 1597 strokes1 characters

Also written — the same radical in a different position inside the character.

Where the shape comes from

A chariot seen from above: the box in the middle is the carriage, the long vertical the axle running through it, and the bars at either end the wheels. The oldest forms show both wheels; the brush kept one and squared the rest, and the simplified 车 reduced it further to four strokes. It marks vehicles and their parts: 轮 a wheel, 转 to turn, 辆 the measure word, 输, 轻, 较.