列车 (liè chē)

Character breakdown

• 列 (liè) · 6 strokes

  Depicts breaking apart bones (歹) using a knife (刂). 歹 also represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "break apart". The meaning later shifted to "arrange in order" and "list".

• 车 (Chē) · 4 strokes

  Pictograph of a war chariot. The simplified character 车 was adapted from the cursive form of the traditional character 車.