机械 jīxiè machine
machine; machinery; mechanical; (old) cunning; scheming
How to remember 机械: 机 machine + 械 weapons = machine.
Characters
How it is used
- Machinery/machines, or 'mechanical' - 机械设备 (jīxiè shèbèi) machinery, 机械工程 (jīxiè gōngchéng) mechanical engineering.
- Also figurative: rigid/inflexible/rote - 机械地照搬 (jīxiè de zhàobān) copy mechanically without thought.
- The figurative 'mechanical = unthinking' sense is common criticism; contrast 灵活 (línghuó, flexible).