Where does “自動車” come from?

自動車 (Japanese) comes from Japanese 自動, from Japanese 自動詞, from Japanese 詞, from Middle Chinese 詞.

自動車 (Japanese): automobile, car, motorcar

Definitions

  1. automobile, car, motorcar

Ancestry of “自動車”, step by step

自動車 traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Japanese 自動

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese自動automatic movement, automatic functioning;...
2Japanese自動詞intransitive verb
3Japanese詞word; word; part of speech
4Middle Chinese詞—

via Japanese 車

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese車a car, an automobile, a carriage, a cart; a...
2Middle Chinese車cart, vehicle

Words derived from “自動車”

Every word from Middle Chinese 詞 →Every word from Japanese 自動 →Every word from Japanese 自動詞 →