車線(しゃせん)

車線(しゃせん) refers to a marked lane on a road for a single line of traffic. Composed of 車(しゃ) (vehicle) + 線(せん) (line).

Counting patterns

Used as a counter-like word to describe the number of lanes:

• 二(に)車線(しゃせん) (two lanes)
• 三(さん)車線(しゃせん) (three lanes)
• 片側(かたがわ)二(に)車線(しゃせん) (two lanes on each side)

Common collocations

• 車線(しゃせん)変更(へんこう): lane change
• 追(お)い越(こ)し車線(しゃせん): passing lane (right lane in Japan)
• 走行(そうこう)車線(しゃせん): driving lane (left lane in Japan)
• 車線(しゃせん)規制(きせい): lane restriction

Usage

Homophone: 斜線(しゃせん) (diagonal line) uses different kanji and has a completely different meaning.