倒车
dǎo chē , dào chē · HSK 4
to reverse
🚌🔄 倒车 = reverse/change + vehicle; dǎo chē = switch buses, dào chē = back up
Same characters, two readings: dǎo chē means transferring between buses or trains (dǎo = to switch), while dào chē means reversing a car (dào = upside-down, backwards). Context and tone tell them apart.
倒 — person radical 亻 + 到 (to arrive)
倒 is a semantic-phonetic compound: the person radical 亻 gives meaning (an action done by/to a person), while 到 supplies the sound 'dào'. Originally meaning 'to fall over' (a person toppling), it extended to 'invert, upside down, pour out', as when something falls and spills.
车 — pictograph of a chariot/cart
车 is a pictograph originally drawn as a top-down view of a chariot, showing the axle, wheels, and carriage box. The ancient form 車 clearly depicted two wheels connected by an axle. It still means vehicle, cart, or car today.