<p>People are missing an important point here. 停車 means stopping -- look at the sign, it is a cross: two red lines on blue. This means that not only you can't park, you're not allowed to stop at the curb (to drop off or pick up someone).</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/kpokN.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/kpokN.jpg" alt="No parking vs No stopping"></a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-05T08:34:56.683Z
Are you from HK? I'm pretty sure on the mainland (in Mandarin speaking areas) 停车 also means "parking" as well as "stopping".
Stumpy Joe Pete
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-05T18:28:45.780Z
It might be worth mentioned that the sign on the left (with one stroke) means No Parking.
xiaomy
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-05T18:32:52.507Z
@StumpyJoePete It's somewhat ambiguous. Some signs use adverbs to help distinguish the meaning(e.g. 临时停车, temporarily/briefly stopping; 长时间停车, stopping for an extended period of time, i.e. parking). The signs themselves are much more straight-forward.
xiaomy
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-05T08:23:39.627Z
2017-06-05T13:32:59.943Z
2017-06-05T13:32:59.943Z
dda
<p>泊 has the meaning of stop, which was used in term "泊船" (put a boat ship alongside quay / land), and "泊車" (stoping a chariot / car). both terms appeared in literatures of yore, describing the stopping status of vessels, or vehicles.</p>

<p>"泊船" was used in the book "異苑" volume 3, by mr 劉敬叔 of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liu_Song_dynasty" rel="noreferrer">劉宋 dynasty (420-479)</a></p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/8k1Qw.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/8k1Qw.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>"泊車" was used in the book "孫可之集" volume 5, by mr 孫樵 of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_dynasty" rel="noreferrer">唐 dynasty (618-907)</a></p>

<blockquote>
  <p>樵起耒而遊﹒泊車而休﹒登降信宿</p>
</blockquote>

<p><a href="https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%AD%AB%E5%8F%AF%E4%B9%8B%E9%9B%86_(%E5%9B%9B%E5%BA%AB%E5%85%A8%E6%9B%B8%E6%9C%AC)/%E5%8D%B705" rel="noreferrer">https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/孫可之集_(四庫全書本)/卷05</a></p>

<p>here, "泊車" had the meaning of "stopping a vehicle" (i guess it's chariot).</p>

<p>though <a href="http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E6%B3%8A" rel="noreferrer">泊 (u+6cca)</a> in cantonese can be pronounced as paak3, <a href="http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/sound/paak3.Mp3" rel="noreferrer">sound file</a>, it's a deviation. in 廣韻, 泊 is 傍各切, which is bok6 :)</p>

<p>i would say that "parking" is translated to 泊 originally (according to the meaning), then with the influence of english, the cantonese pronunciation of "泊" (bok6) derived another pronunciation paak3, to stimulate the english pronunciation of "park".</p>

<p><strong>泊 is not phonetic loan from "parking"</strong></p>

<p>have fun :)</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-05T21:55:39.180Z
I am always amazed at your knowledge! How do you find these references?
Pedroski
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-06T04:02:29.880Z
@perdroski, i made a q & a, in lieu of long comment, have a look: https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/24014/how-to-search-words-clauses-in-classical-literary-chinese/24015#24015
水巷孑蠻
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-05T07:42:05.893Z
2017-06-05T07:42:05.893Z
水巷孑蠻
<p>Stumpy is right. actually "泊" is transliteration of "parking", so "泊车" is closer to the meaning of "parking". In my opinion, the scope of "停车" is bigger than "泊车", any action of "stopping a car" can be recognized as "停车"; When stop and get off the car to do something long term(go shopping or go to hospital...), we can consider it "泊车".</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-05T06:25:52.827Z
2017-06-05T06:25:52.827Z
rocky chi
<p>I believe they mean the same thing.</p>

<p>In Cantonese, <code>泊</code> is pronounced <code>paak3</code>, so I'm pretty sure that it's a phonetic loan from English "park", with the character chosen to be at least suggestive of the meaning (as opposed to some other character pronounced like <code>paak</code>). However, as you've noticed, both <code>泊车</code> and <code>停车</code> are in use on the mainland, regardless of whether <code>泊车</code> came via Cantonese.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-04T23:12:26.403Z
2017-06-04T23:12:26.403Z
Stumpy Joe Pete
<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/4k5j8.png" width="100" height="100"></p>

<p><strong>请勿泊车 = No Parking</strong></p>

<blockquote>
  <p>No Parking mean you can stop the vehicle there, and you can load or
  unload people and goods, but you can't leave the vehicle unattended
  and go off.</p>
</blockquote>

<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/80zuT.jpg" width="100" height="100"></p>

<p><strong>禁止停车 = No Stopping</strong></p>

<blockquote>
  <p>No Stopping means no dropping people off or picking them up, and no
  loading/unloading. You're not supposed to be there unless you're
  moving.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The signs above the text should clarify - they are international signs and there is only a slight difference between the individual meanings of <code>Stopping</code>, <code>Standing/Waiting</code>, and <code>Parking</code>, anywhere in the world.</p>

<p><code>No Stopping</code> signs are the strictest, and <code>No Parking</code> signs are the most lenient.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-30T10:57:19.960Z
As **Stumpy Joe Pete** said, the difference is that 泊 comes from Cantonese (especially Hong Kong people like transliteration, for example: 的士: taxi; 打的: take a taxi; etc), in mainland China, we don't use 泊车 and 的士 before, but now these words could be seen somewhere.
xenophōn
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-30T11:02:12.233Z
Both **No Parking** and **No Stopping** are translated to 禁止停车. You may also use 禁止临时停车 for **No Stopping** and 禁止长时间停车 for **No Parking** to prevent ambiguity.
xenophōn
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-30T11:17:59.973Z
People in mainland China call **taxi** as 出租车 (literally: **rented car**, or **the car on hire**) before, **take a taxi** as **打出租车** or **打车** for short. People in Taiwan call **taxi** as 計程車 (计程车 in simplified Chinese. literally: **fare-metered car**, or **the car with odometer**). But, people in Hong Kong prefer **transliteration** rather than **liberal translation**, they call **taxi** as 的士, which is meaningless in Chinese language, except that the pronunciation of 的士 in Cantonese close to the English word **taxi**.
xenophōn
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-05T08:35:06.360Z
2017-06-05T08:50:07.670Z
2017-06-05T08:50:07.670Z
Pranab
<p>I see these two road signs at Nankai University (Jinnan campus), Tianjin:</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/IeYDds.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/IeYDds.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<blockquote>
  <p>请勿泊车 = qǐng wù bóchē</p>
</blockquote>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/INQzWs.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/INQzWs.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<blockquote>
  <p>禁止停车 = jìnzhǐ tíngchē</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Both seem to mean "no parking" with:</p>

<ul>
<li><p><a href="http://dict.cn/%E8%AF%B7%E5%8B%BF" rel="nofollow noreferrer">请勿</a> meaning "please no ..." and <a href="http://dict.cn/%E7%A6%81%E6%AD%A2" rel="nofollow noreferrer">禁止</a> meaning "forbidden ...", and</p></li>
<li><p><a href="http://dict.cn/%E6%B3%8A%E8%BD%A6" rel="nofollow noreferrer">泊车</a> meaning something like "anchor car" and <a href="http://dict.cn/%E5%81%9C%E8%BD%A6" rel="nofollow noreferrer">停车</a> meaning "stop car".</p></li>
</ul>

<p><strong>Question</strong>: What's the difference between 停车 (tíngchē) and 泊车 (bóchē), which both seem to mean "park car"?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-05T01:54:55.203Z
bkrs：泊车to park (a vehicle) (loanword) parking parked car     
similarly：拷贝copy to copy (loanword)
user6065
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-05T05:16:46.477Z
禁 falling tone \
Colin
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-05T06:31:30.230Z
泊车 always seems to give me the impression of "valet parking" - not sure why.
Mou某
<word-choice><difference>
What's the difference between 停车 (tíngchē) and 泊车 (bóchē), which both seem to mean "park car"?
# What's the difference between 停车 (tíngchē) and 泊车 (bóchē), which both seem to mean "park car"?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-06-04)

I see these two road signs at Nankai University (Jinnan campus), Tianjin:

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/IeYDds.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/IeYDds.jpg)

> 请勿泊车 = qǐng wù bóchē

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/INQzWs.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/INQzWs.jpg)

> 禁止停车 = jìnzhǐ tíngchē

Both seem to mean "no parking" with:

* [请勿](http://dict.cn/%E8%AF%B7%E5%8B%BF) meaning "please no ..." and [禁止](http://dict.cn/%E7%A6%81%E6%AD%A2) meaning "forbidden ...", and
* [泊车](http://dict.cn/%E6%B3%8A%E8%BD%A6) meaning something like "anchor car" and [停车](http://dict.cn/%E5%81%9C%E8%BD%A6) meaning "stop car".

**Question**: What's the difference between 停车 (tíngchē) and 泊车 (bóchē), which both seem to mean "park car"?

**Tags:** word-choice, difference
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: bkrs：泊车to park (a vehicle) (loanword) parking parked car      similarly：拷贝copy to copy (loanword)  
> **username_2**: 禁 falling tone \  
> **username_3**: 泊车 always seems to give me the impression of "valet parking" - not sure why.  

---

## 5 answers

### Answer by username_10 on 2017-06-05. Score: 10 | Accepted answer

![](https://i.sstatic.net/4k5j8.png)

**请勿泊车 = No Parking**

> No Parking mean you can stop the vehicle there, and you can load or
> unload people and goods, but you can't leave the vehicle unattended
> and go off.

![](https://i.sstatic.net/80zuT.jpg)

**禁止停车 = No Stopping**

> No Stopping means no dropping people off or picking them up, and no
> loading/unloading. You're not supposed to be there unless you're
> moving.

The signs above the text should clarify - they are international signs and there is only a slight difference between the individual meanings of `Stopping`, `Standing/Waiting`, and `Parking`, anywhere in the world.

`No Stopping` signs are the strictest, and `No Parking` signs are the most lenient.

> **Comments:**
> **username_11**: As **Stumpy Joe Pete** said, the difference is that 泊 comes from Cantonese (especially Hong Kong people like transliteration, for example: 的士: taxi; 打的: take a taxi; etc), in mainland China, we don't use 泊车 and 的士 before, but now these words could be seen somewhere.  
> **username_11**: Both **No Parking** and **No Stopping** are translated to 禁止停车. You may also use 禁止临时停车 for **No Stopping** and 禁止长时间停车 for **No Parking** to prevent ambiguity.  
> **username_11**: People in mainland China call **taxi** as 出租车 (literally: **rented car**, or **the car on hire**) before, **take a taxi** as **打出租车** or **打车** for short. People in Taiwan call **taxi** as 計程車 (计程车 in simplified Chinese. literally: **fare-metered car**, or **the car with odometer**). But, people in Hong Kong prefer **transliteration** rather than **liberal translation**, they call **taxi** as 的士, which is meaningless in Chinese language, except that the pronunciation of 的士 in Cantonese close to the English word **taxi**.  

---

### Answer by username_4 on 2017-06-05. Score: 5

People are missing an important point here. 停車 means stopping -- look at the sign, it is a cross: two red lines on blue. This means that not only you can't park, you're not allowed to stop at the curb (to drop off or pick up someone).

[![No parking vs No stopping](https://i.sstatic.net/kpokN.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/kpokN.jpg)

> **Comments:**
> **username_5**: Are you from HK? I'm pretty sure on the mainland (in Mandarin speaking areas) 停车 also means "parking" as well as "stopping".  
> **username_6**: It might be worth mentioned that the sign on the left (with one stroke) means No Parking.  
> **username_6**: @StumpyJoePete It's somewhat ambiguous. Some signs use adverbs to help distinguish the meaning(e.g. 临时停车, temporarily/briefly stopping; 长时间停车, stopping for an extended period of time, i.e. parking). The signs themselves are much more straight-forward.  

---

### Answer by username_7 on 2017-06-05. Score: 5

泊 has the meaning of stop, which was used in term "泊船" (put a boat ship alongside quay / land), and "泊車" (stoping a chariot / car). both terms appeared in literatures of yore, describing the stopping status of vessels, or vehicles.

"泊船" was used in the book "異苑" volume 3, by mr 劉敬叔 of [劉宋 dynasty (420-479)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liu_Song_dynasty)

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/8k1Qw.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/8k1Qw.png)

"泊車" was used in the book "孫可之集" volume 5, by mr 孫樵 of [唐 dynasty (618-907)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_dynasty)

> 樵起耒而遊﹒泊車而休﹒登降信宿

[https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/孫可之集\_(四庫全書本)/卷05](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%AD%AB%E5%8F%AF%E4%B9%8B%E9%9B%86_(%E5%9B%9B%E5%BA%AB%E5%85%A8%E6%9B%B8%E6%9C%AC)/%E5%8D%B705)

here, "泊車" had the meaning of "stopping a vehicle" (i guess it's chariot).

though [泊 (u+6cca)](http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E6%B3%8A) in cantonese can be pronounced as paak3, [sound file](http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/sound/paak3.Mp3), it's a deviation. in 廣韻, 泊 is 傍各切, which is bok6 :)

i would say that "parking" is translated to 泊 originally (according to the meaning), then with the influence of english, the cantonese pronunciation of "泊" (bok6) derived another pronunciation paak3, to stimulate the english pronunciation of "park".

**泊 is not phonetic loan from "parking"**

have fun :)

> **Comments:**
> **username_8**: I am always amazed at your knowledge! How do you find these references?  
> **username_7**: @perdroski, i made a q & a, in lieu of long comment, have a look: https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/24014/how-to-search-words-clauses-in-classical-literary-chinese/24015#24015  

---

### Answer by username_9 on 2017-06-05. Score: 2

Stumpy is right. actually "泊" is transliteration of "parking", so "泊车" is closer to the meaning of "parking". In my opinion, the scope of "停车" is bigger than "泊车", any action of "stopping a car" can be recognized as "停车"; When stop and get off the car to do something long term(go shopping or go to hospital...), we can consider it "泊车".


---

### Answer by username_5 on 2017-06-04. Score: 1

I believe they mean the same thing.

In Cantonese, `泊` is pronounced `paak3`, so I'm pretty sure that it's a phonetic loan from English "park", with the character chosen to be at least suggestive of the meaning (as opposed to some other character pronounced like `paak`). However, as you've noticed, both `泊车` and `停车` are in use on the mainland, regardless of whether `泊车` came via Cantonese.


---

