what's mean of "打的"？ How to understand "的" When I need a taxi, I need to say “打的” instead of "打车"。  

So what is the meaning of "的"？How to understand "的"?

When can I use it?
You can say "打车". Whether to use "打的" or "打车" might be only personal/regional preference.

Here 的 is pronounced as di1[1] , and it shorten from "的士" which means taxi.

Currently I can think of only a few words which uses this meaning of "的": 打的, 的士, 的哥(male taxi driver), etc。



[1] My dictionary says the pronunciation is di2. While in everyday life (in Beijing), what I hear and use is di1.