汽车

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The Chinese word 汽车 (qìchē) for "automobile" is a compound of two characters: **汽** (qì) and **车** (chē). The character **汽** originally meant "steam" or "vapor", and was later extended to mean "gasoline" or "petrol". The character **车** originally meant "cart" or "carriage", and was later extended to mean "automobile". The combination of these two characters thus literally means "gasoline-powered cart", which is a fitting name for an automobile.It's worth noting that the word 汽车 is not the only way to say "automobile" in Chinese. Another common term is 小汽车 (xiǎoqìchē), which literally means "small automobile". This term is often used to refer to passenger cars, as opposed to larger vehicles such as trucks or buses.