Tuesday, December 07, 2021

Does 汽車 (기차) mean "train" or "car"?

 ANSWER: In Korea, 汽車 (기차) means "train," but in China it means "car."

汽車 (기차) literally means "steam (汽) car (車)," which seems to be a good description of the early steam locomotives, so I wonder why in China a "steam car" refers to an automobile instead of a train? Instead, the Chinese word for "train" is 火車 (화차), which literally means "fire (火) car (車)."

By the way, the Chinese word for "taxi" is 計程汽車 (계정기차), which can literally translate as "journey calculating (計程) steam (汽) car (車).

From Dong-A's Prime Korean-English Dictionary

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