‘叫车’ literally means ‘to call a car’ and functions as a verb meaning ‘to order a car’, most commonly a taxi or ride-hailing vehicle (e.g., Didi). The character 叫 (jiào) means ‘to call’ or ‘to summon’, while 车 (chē) means ‘car’ or ‘vehicle’. Together, they form a compact, colloquial compound used in everyday urban life — especially when arranging transportation via phone apps or by flagging down a taxi on the street.

This term is neutral in register and widely understood across Mandarin-speaking regions. It’s typically used in spoken Chinese and informal writing; formal contexts (e.g., official documents) might use more precise terms like ‘预约出租车’ (yùyuē chūzūchē, ‘to reserve a taxi’). Unlike verbs requiring aspect particles (e.g., 了, 过), ‘叫车’ often appears with time words or modals (e.g., 要叫车, 刚叫了车) to indicate intention or completion.