車（くるま、kuruma）
- car

The Japanese word 車 (くるま) primarily means "car," "vehicle," or "automobile." It refers to any wheeled conveyance used for transportation, whether powered or not. This can include cars, trucks, buses, trains, bicycles, and even carts. The meaning extends to the general concept of transport.

⚫︎新しい車を買いました。 Translation: I bought a new car. ⚫︎あの車は速いですね！ Translation: That car is fast! ⚫︎車で旅行に行きます。 Translation: I'm going on a trip by car.

⚫︎You'll use 車 in any situation where you're talking about cars or transportation in general. ⚫︎It's a very common and versatile word. ⚫︎You can use it with verbs like 乗る（のる, "to ride"), 運転する（うんてんする, "to drive"）, or 買う（かう, "to buy"）.

⚫︎The standard way to write "car" is using the kanji 車. ⚫︎The reading is くるま in hiragana. ⚫︎While the kanji is most common, the word can also be written in hiragana: くるま. ⚫︎There are no variations in the okurigana for this word.

⚫︎自動車（じどうしゃ): "automobile," a more formal term for car. ⚫︎カー (kā): A loanword from English "car," used informally. ⚫︎Depending on the specific type of transport, other words could be used, e.g., 自転車（じてんしゃ, "bicycle"）.

There isn't a direct antonym for 車 in the same way that you'd find one for words with more abstract meanings. The concept is "something not a car" or a means of travel not using a vehicle, such as: ⚫︎徒歩（とほ, "walking") ⚫︎電車（でんしゃ, "train") - if contrasting against a car.

私は毎朝車で会社に行きます。 ・Translation: I go to work by car every morning. ・Explanation: This sentence uses 車 to describe the mode of daily transportation.

この車はガソリンではなく、電気で動きます。 ・Translation: This car runs on electricity, not gasoline. ・Explanation: This sentence explains the power source of the car, demonstrating how 車 is used in a more detailed context.

The kanji 車 itself is a pictograph representing a wheel or a chariot. The word くるま is thought to be derived from an earlier word, 来る（くる, "to come") and 間（ま, "space"), which suggests the original meaning might have been related to the space or area used by a wheel. However, this is just a theory.