How to Write 车 (chē/jū) — Meaning “car or vehicle”

Imagine the character 车 looks like a car from the side: the top horizontal line is the roof, the second stroke (a left-falling line turning right) is the car's body, the vertical line is the steering column, and the bottom horizontal line is the chassis. You can also remember it has 4 strokes, just like a car has 4 wheels.

The correct stroke order is: top horizontal, then a left-falling stroke that turns into a horizontal (called 撇折), then a vertical line through the middle, and finally a bottom horizontal. A common mistake is to write the second stroke as two separate lines or to make the vertical line too short. Keep the character balanced, with the top and bottom horizontals parallel.

轧 (yà) has an extra horizontal stroke on top and means 'to crush' or 'to roll', often used in words like 轧路机 (road roller). 轨 (guǐ) has an extra vertical stroke on the left and means 'track' or 'rail', as in 轨道 (orbit or track). Unlike 车, these are not standalone nouns for 'vehicle' and appear in different contexts.

车 is a common word for 'vehicle' and appears in many everyday terms like 汽车 (car), 火车 (train), and 自行车 (bicycle). In Chinese culture, cars symbolize prosperity, and phrases like 车水马龙 describe heavy traffic. It is also used in compound words for transportation-related concepts.

Common words containing 车 include: 汽车 (qì chē) — Car; 车站 (chē zhàn) — station or stop; 开车 (kāi chē) — to drive a car.