汽车

Why does 汽车 look like this?

This is a compound word: 汽 (qì) means 'steam' or 'gas,' consisting of the water radical (氵) and the phonetic 'air' (气). 车 (chē) is the radical for 'vehicle,' originally depicting a chariot with wheels. Together, they literally mean 'steam vehicle,' referring to the early engines that powered cars!