驶
Character Story & Explanation
驶 is widely used in contemporary Chinese transportation contexts: traffic signs read ‘禁止驶入’ (jìnzhǐ shǐrù, 'No Entry'), news reports state ‘列车缓缓驶出站台’ (lièchē huǎn huǎn shǐ chū zhàn tái, 'The train slowly departs the platform'), and official documents describe ‘船舶安全驶抵港口’ (chuánbó ānquán shǐ dǐ gǎngkǒu, 'Ships safely arrive at port'). It appears in the standardized HSK 5 vocabulary list and is essential for reading technical and administrative texts.
驶 evolved from the ancient character 駛 (simplified to 驶 in 1956), which combined 馬 (horse) and 史 (shǐ, originally meaning 'historian' or 'record-keeper', later phonetic). The simplified form retains 马 as its radical and uses 使 (shǐ, 'to cause, to send') as the phonetic component — visually reinforcing the idea of *causing motion* with intent and direction.
The character 驶 (shǐ) embodies a dynamic, purposeful motion — not mere movement, but controlled, directional speed. Its radical 马 (mǎ, 'horse') anchors it in China’s millennia-old reverence for the horse as a symbol of power, loyalty, and strategic mobility. In classical texts, horses carried messengers, generals, and imperial edicts — their speed was synonymous with authority, urgency, and trustworthiness. Thus, 驶 carries connotations beyond velocity: it implies agency, intention, and responsibility in motion.
Unlike generic verbs for ‘go’ or ‘move’, 驶 is reserved for vehicles or entities under deliberate control — cars, ships, trains — never for people walking or animals running freely. This reflects a Confucian-inflected worldview where speed must be *governed*: unregulated haste invites danger; proper speed serves harmony and duty. The character subtly encodes the idea that progress gains moral weight only when guided by wisdom and restraint.
In modern China, 驶 resonates deeply with national narratives of advancement — high-speed rail (高铁驶过), autonomous vehicles, and space missions all use 驶 to evoke precise, safe, forward momentum. It avoids the recklessness implied by words like 冲 (chōng, ‘rush’) or 猛 (měng, ‘fierce’). To say a train 驶入 station is to affirm order, timeliness, and technological confidence — values mirrored in China’s infrastructure ethos. Thus, 驶 is not just linguistic shorthand; it’s a cultural compass pointing toward disciplined progress.
Example Sentences
Common Compounds
Similar Characters — Don't Mix These Up
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