車 – JLPT N5 Kanji, Kanji for car (With 3D Visualization)
Kanji for car
Fast lookup with examples and clean stroke-order visualization.
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Find visually similar kanji, commonly confused characters, related meanings, and useful words connected to 車.
車
- Meanings
- car
- Onyomi
- シャ
- Kunyomi
- くるま
- Name Readings
- くら, くろま
- JLPT
- N5
- Grade
- 1
- Frequency
- -
- Kanji Writing Practice
- Practice
Stroke Order
Story
The kanji 車 comes from a picture of a cart or wagon seen from above. In ancient times, it showed a wheel in the center and an axle connecting it to the body of the cart. People used such carts to carry goods and travel long distances, so this image naturally came to mean “vehicle,” “wheel,” or “car.” Even today, the shape still resembles the spokes and frame of a wheel.
Short Story
An old picture of a cart with a central wheel and frame — 車 represents vehicles, wheels, and movement.
Mnemonic
Imagine looking down at a wagon: a big wheel in the middle and lines for the axle and frame — that’s 車, the kanji for car or vehicle.
Vocabulary Examples
| Word | Reading | Meaning | Meta |
|---|---|---|---|
| 車 | くるま | car, automobile, vehicle | common JLPT-N5 Noun |
| 車 | しゃ | car, vehicle, van, truck, wagon, lorry | Suffix |
| 車庫 | しゃこ | garage, carport, depot (for trains, buses, etc.), shed, carbarn | common JLPT-N2 Noun |
| 車輪 | しゃりん | (vehicle) wheel | common JLPT-N2 Noun |
| 車掌 | しゃしょう | (train) conductor | common JLPT-N2 Noun |
| 車線 | しゃせん | traffic lane, road lane | common Noun |
| 車椅子 | くるまいす | wheelchair | common Noun |
| 車中 | しゃちゅう | in a train (car, bus, etc.), on a train | common Noun, Noun which may take the genitive case particle 'no' |
| 車両 | しゃりょう | rolling stock, wheeled vehicle, railroad car | common Noun |
| 車内 | しゃない | inside a car (train, bus, etc.) | common Noun, Noun which may take the genitive case particle 'no' |