<p>It is an ancient pronunciation of that Chinese character. Because Chinese chess has been created for more than 2000 years. During this period of time, pronunciations of many characters have changed, "車" is one of them. But because this game has been widely spread, this ancient pronunciation has been retained.</p>

<p>This pronunciation is only used in this game. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-10-29T10:14:09.623Z
Do you have sources to back up the age of Chinese chess? [According to wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiangqi#History), the commonly accepted theory is that it was derived from the Indian chess game [Chaturanga](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaturanga), which dates to 6th century AD. Not sure if this affects the rest of your answer though.
congusbongus
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-10-29T10:45:56.633Z
@congusbongus Please see [here](http://baike.baidu.com/view/13701.htm). Of course, later Chinese chess was affected a lot by Indian chess, especially the game rules. However some basic pieces (corresponding Chinese characters) has been already there before Indian chess came to China.
Wang Disi
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-10-29T15:42:36.397Z
I'm not sure this is a good explanation. Historical reconstructions suggest that there have been two very different pronunciations of 車 for a _long_ time (MC & OC).
Stumpy Joe Pete
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-10-29T17:20:16.417Z
@congusbongus, AFAIK, Chinese chess dates back to 475~221 BC, much earlier than Indian chess game. Also, "車" is called "ju" at that time. You can read the article [here](http://www.360doc.com/content/09/0602/12/109164_3749745.shtml) and [here](http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh/%E6%88%B0%E5%9C%8B)
shuangwhywhy
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-10-29T17:30:35.543Z
@congusbongus. The earliest chess game is not very much alike the modern chess game, but some of the concepts were inherited, like its name, some of the schema, etc.
shuangwhywhy
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-10-29T18:15:19.940Z
车 belongs to 鱼部 in Old Chinese (that means it rhymes with 鱼). The 鱼部 was pronounced as -a in Old Chinese and still today in many southern dialects 车 indeed rhymes with -a/-ia. @StumpyJoePete I do not think the Old Chinese pronunciations (even there were two) could be very distinct (maybe one for noun and the other for verb). They should both end with -a, but the preceding consonant might affect how the sound evolved.
user58955
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-10-30T01:00:16.290Z
@user58955 Baxter gives distinct MC and OC for the two pronunciations of 车 ([here](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Baxter-Sagart_Old_Chinese_reconstruction) and [here](http://crlao.ehess.fr/docannexe.php?id=1207)), but both OC pronunciations _do_ end in -a. Your explanation is actually different and much better than this answer--it's not an "ancient" pronunciation that's been retained. It's a(n initially small) distinction that has become larger through phonological change.
Stumpy Joe Pete
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-10-30T04:54:00.047Z
/*t.qʰa/ and /*C.qa/ don't look that distinct after all, do they? (An interesting side note: things like 车 are not invented independently across the world, it is invented somewhere then spread out, so you can see the word has similar pronunciation across the world, cf. Latin `carrus`, Burmese `kal`)
user58955
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-10-31T17:28:43.867Z
@user58955 The Latin is unrelated (it derives from PIE *krsos). The Burmese _might_ be related, but in general, you need to provide good, systematic reconstructions to prove relation ("sounding similar" is not good evidence).
Stumpy Joe Pete
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-10-29T09:31:13.243Z
2013-10-31T12:23:31.200Z
2013-10-31T12:23:31.200Z
Wang Disi
<p>The <a href="http://www.zdic.net/z/25/js/8ECA.htm">車 in Chinese chess is pronounced jū</a>. Why isn't it pronounced chē?</p>

<p>Is this pronunciation used outside of Chinese chess?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-10-29T18:22:06.667Z
There are inconsistencies. Some older people say jū in 学富五车 (this is also the standard pronunciation in Taiwan) while others say chē (current prevailing pronunciation in mainland China). On the other hand, note that standard Taiwan mandarin pronunciation reflects more older and regular pronunciations than the mainland mandarin.
user58955
<mandarin><pronunciation>
Why is the 車 in Chinese chess pronounced jū?
# Why is the 車 in Chinese chess pronounced jū?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-10-29)

The [車 in Chinese chess is pronounced jū](http://www.zdic.net/z/25/js/8ECA.htm). Why isn't it pronounced chē?

Is this pronunciation used outside of Chinese chess?

**Tags:** mandarin, pronunciation

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: There are inconsistencies. Some older people say jū in 学富五车 (this is also the standard pronunciation in Taiwan) while others say chē (current prevailing pronunciation in mainland China). On the other hand, note that standard Taiwan mandarin pronunciation reflects more older and regular pronunciations than the mainland mandarin.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2013-10-29. Score: 4

It is an ancient pronunciation of that Chinese character. Because Chinese chess has been created for more than 2000 years. During this period of time, pronunciations of many characters have changed, "車" is one of them. But because this game has been widely spread, this ancient pronunciation has been retained.

This pronunciation is only used in this game.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Do you have sources to back up the age of Chinese chess? [According to wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiangqi#History), the commonly accepted theory is that it was derived from the Indian chess game [Chaturanga](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaturanga), which dates to 6th century AD. Not sure if this affects the rest of your answer though.  
> **username_2**: @username_0 Please see [here](http://baike.baidu.com/view/13701.htm). Of course, later Chinese chess was affected a lot by Indian chess, especially the game rules. However some basic pieces (corresponding Chinese characters) has been already there before Indian chess came to China.  
> **username_3**: I'm not sure this is a good explanation. Historical reconstructions suggest that there have been two very different pronunciations of 車 for a _long_ time (MC & OC).  
> **username_4**: @username_0, AFAIK, Chinese chess dates back to 475~221 BC, much earlier than Indian chess game. Also, "車" is called "ju" at that time. You can read the article [here](http://www.360doc.com/content/09/0602/12/109164_3749745.shtml) and [here](http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh/%E6%88%B0%E5%9C%8B)  
> **username_4**: @username_0. The earliest chess game is not very much alike the modern chess game, but some of the concepts were inherited, like its name, some of the schema, etc.  
> **username_1**: 车 belongs to 鱼部 in Old Chinese (that means it rhymes with 鱼). The 鱼部 was pronounced as -a in Old Chinese and still today in many southern dialects 车 indeed rhymes with -a/-ia. @username_3 I do not think the Old Chinese pronunciations (even there were two) could be very distinct (maybe one for noun and the other for verb). They should both end with -a, but the preceding consonant might affect how the sound evolved.  
> **username_3**: @username_1 Baxter gives distinct MC and OC for the two pronunciations of 车 ([here](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Baxter-Sagart_Old_Chinese_reconstruction) and [here](http://crlao.ehess.fr/docannexe.php?id=1207)), but both OC pronunciations _do_ end in -a. Your explanation is actually different and much better than this answer--it's not an "ancient" pronunciation that's been retained. It's a(n initially small) distinction that has become larger through phonological change.  
> **username_1**: /*t.qʰa/ and /*C.qa/ don't look that distinct after all, do they? (An interesting side note: things like 车 are not invented independently across the world, it is invented somewhere then spread out, so you can see the word has similar pronunciation across the world, cf. Latin `carrus`, Burmese `kal`)  
> **username_3**: @username_1 The Latin is unrelated (it derives from PIE *krsos). The Burmese _might_ be related, but in general, you need to provide good, systematic reconstructions to prove relation ("sounding similar" is not good evidence).  

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