Chinese word

堵车

Pronunciation

Pinyindǔ chē

Meaning

  • verbbe stuck in traffic

Example

今天早上高速上又堵车了。jīn tiān zǎo shàng gāo sù shàng yòu dǔ chē le

Traffic was backed up on the highway again this morning.

Illustration for 堵车 (be stuck in traffic)

More examples

因为事故，市中心的主要干道下午就开始堵车了。yīn wèi shì gù shì zhōng xīn de zhǔ yào gàn dào xià wǔ jiù kāi shǐ dǔ chē le

Because of an accident, traffic started backing up on the main road in the city center in the afternoon.

Core concept

Road traffic becomes a packed line that cannot flow normally.

Common phrases

  • 晚高峰堵车wǎn gāo fēng dǔ chē

    be stuck in evening rush-hour traffic

  • 主要干道堵车zhǔ yào gàn dào dǔ chē

    be stuck in traffic on major roads

Similar words

拥堵yōng dǔ: Vehicles or people crowd a road, so movement through it becomes difficult.
堵塞dǔ sè: A road or passage is blocked so that nothing can pass through.
塞车sāi chē: Cars crowd a road so tightly that traffic stops moving.

Definition in Chinese

车辆在道路上因为拥挤或阻挡而不能正常行驶，形成行驶缓慢或停止的状态。chē liàng zài dào lù shàng yīn wèi yōng jǐ huò zú dǎng ér bù néng zhèng cháng xíng shǐ xíng chéng xíng shǐ huǎn màn huò tíng zhǐ de zhuàng tài

Word origin

The compound 堵 (dǔ, "block") + 车 (chē, "vehicle") joins an action with the vehicles affected by it, creating a direct term for road congestion.

Usage tips

  • The word can report a road condition without stating who is delayed, so it often gives a concise reason for arriving late.

Other meanings

  • traffic jamnoun
  • be congestedverb

Opposites

Word lists with this word