驾 (jià): to drive

驾 (jià) is a Chinese character meaning “to drive.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 加 (phonetic) and 马 (semantic). It ranks #1557 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 驾 horse. Its radical form 马 (horse) appears in many related characters such as 马 (mǎ, horse), 骑 (qí, to ride), 验 (yàn, to test, to verify).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to drive

Etymology & Origin

驾

pictophonetichorse

Decomposition: ⿱加马 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Practice writing 驾 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 驾

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
驾驶verbjià shǐto drive (vehicle)5
驾照nounjià zhàodriver's license (abbr. for 駕駛執照|驾驶执照)5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
驾车verbjià chēto drive a vehicle
劳驾verbláo jiàexcuse me
驾驶员nounjià shǐ yuánpilot
驾驭jià yùto urge on (of horse)
驾驶舱nounjià shǐ cāngcockpit
凌驾verblíng jiàto be above
驾驶证nounjià shǐ zhèngdriver's license
驾驶室nounjià shǐ shìcab (of a locomotive, truck etc)
驾轻就熟phrasejià qīng jiù shúlit. an easy drive on a familiar path (idiom)
驾临verbjià línto grace sb with one's presence
并驾齐驱phrasebìng jià qí qū(idiom) to run neck and neck
驾校nounjià xiàodriving school
驾御verbjià yùvariant of 駕馭|驾驭
驾机jià jīto fly an airplane
保驾verbbǎo jià(in former times) to escort the emperor (or other important personage)
70
Total compounds
40
As first character
34
As last character
26
As middle character

驾 appears in 70 compound words: 40 as the first character, 34 as the last, and 26 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 驾 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

驶shǐ
0.87227,832 co-occurrences
驭yù
0.615703 co-occurrences
崩bēng
0.5953,276 co-occurrences
舱cāng
0.5832,012 co-occurrences
车chē
0.4678,635 co-occurrences
员yuán
0.4416,122 co-occurrences
辆liàng
0.417814 co-occurrences
醉zuì
0.416370 co-occurrences
飞fēi
0.4061,228 co-occurrences
凌líng
0.402710 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (9)

保驾护航bǎojiàhùhángHSK 5+

to escort; to protect

phrase
并驾齐驱bìngjiàqíqūHSK 7+

to keep pace with; to keep abreast of; to advance at an equal pace with; to run neck and neck; to be on a par with

phrase
大驾光临dà jià guāng línHSK 5+

we are honored by your presence

phrase
驾鹤西归jià hè xī guīHSK 7+

see 駕鶴西去|驾鹤西去

phrase
驾鹤西去jiàhèxīqùHSK 7+

to pass away

phrase
驾鹤西游jiàhèxīyóuHSK 7+

to pass away

phrase
驾驶执照jiàshǐ zhízhàoHSK 5+

driver's license; driving license

noun
御驾亲征yùjiàqīnzhēngHSK 7+

military expedition commanded by the emperor in person

noun

Showing 8 of 9 idioms containing 驾.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

请系好安全带,我要开始驾驶了。

Qǐng jì hǎo ānquándài, wǒ yào kāishǐ jiàshǐ le.

Please fasten your seatbelt; I'm about to start driving.

99 健康网Feb 2026

昨晚喝了酒,今天开车算酒驾吗?答案来了

zuó wǎn hē le jiǔ , jīn tiān kāi chē suàn jiǔ jià ma ? dā àn lái le

I drank last night, is driving drunk today? Here comes the answer

99 健康网Feb 2026

昨晚喝了酒,今天开车算酒驾吗?别被“隔夜酒”坑了

zuó wǎn hē le jiǔ , jīn tiān kāi chē suàn jiǔ jià ma ? bié bèi gé yè jiǔ kēng le

I drank last night, is driving drunk today? Don't be fooled by "overnight wine"

中時新聞網Feb 2026

国3龙井段惊魂!驾驶分心追撞缓撞车 车流回堵2公里

guó 3 lóng jǐng duàn jīng hún ! jià shǐ fēn xīn zhuī zhuàng huǎn zhuàng chē chē liú huí dǔ 2 gōng lǐ

National 3 Longjing section is horror! The driver was distracted and slowed down the collision, and the traffic flow was blocked for 2 kilometers

Nownews今日新聞Feb 2026

黄侦琳酒驾不退选?Cheap掀她底狠酸:这女士还挺...

huáng zhēn 琳 jiǔ jià bù tuì xuǎn ? C h e a p xiān tā de hěn suān : zhè nǚ shì hái tǐng . . .

Huang Jianlin drunk driving does not withdraw from the election? Cheap lifted her bottom and soured: This lady is quite sour...

百度新闻Feb 2026

男子驾车返乡途中,在服务区内临时下车,结果被猫...

nán zǐ jià chē fǎn xiāng tú zhōng , zài fú wù ōu nèi lín shí xià chē , jié guǒ bèi māo . . .

Man driving back to his hometown on the way, in the service area temporarily get off, the results were cat...

Tatoeba

汤姆因无证驾驶而被逮捕。

Tāngmǔ yīn wú zhèng jiàshǐ ér bèi dàibǔ.

Tom was arrested for driving without a licence.

Tatoeba

司机被控超速驾驶。

Sījī bèikòng chāosù jiàshǐ.

The driver was charged with speeding.

Tatoeba

喝醉的驾驶员对车祸有责任。

Hēzuì de jiàshǐyuán duì chēhuò yǒuzérèn.

A drunk driver was responsible for the car accident.

Tatoeba

警察因酒后驾驶逮捕了他。

Jǐngchá yīn jiǔhòujiàshǐ dàibǔ le tā.

The policeman arrested him for drunken driving.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 马 (horse) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced jià

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 驾 (jià) mean in Chinese?
驾 (jià) primarily means "to drive." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1557 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 驾 and 咖?
驾 (jià) and 咖 (kā) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 马 vs 口 (same 加 component).
How many strokes does 驾 have?
驾 is written with 8 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 驾?
The radical associated with 驾 is 马 (horse). This radical appears in many characters related to horse.
What are the components of 驾?
驾 is composed of: 加 (phonetic), 马 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱加马 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 驾?
Common words with 驾 include: 驾驶 (jià shǐ, "to drive (vehicle)"); 驾照 (jià zhào, "driver's license (abbr. for 駕駛執照|驾驶执照)"); 驾车 (jià chē, "to drive a vehicle"); 劳驾 (láo jià, "excuse me"); 驾驶员 (jià shǐ yuán, "pilot"). There are over 70 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 驾 (jià)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jià: 架 (shelf, frame), 嘉 (excellent), 家 (home, family), 加 (Canada (abbr. for 加拿大)), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 驾 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 驾 and the traditional form is 駕.

Practice writing 驾 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.