匪 (fěi) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

匪

fěi[fei3]Tone 3

bandit

HSK 7

Guru Deep Dive

English · bandit

Cached lesson

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Topology:Full enclosure

Strokes:10

Writing Balance Rule: The outer box (匚) must maintain crisp, strong corners, while the internal component (非) should be evenly centered and balanced without touching the outer boundaries.

1. Meaning

bandit

outlawrobber(literary) not

Noun / AdverbLiterary / FormalBound morpheme#crime#society#literary

Sample Usage

土匪
tǔfěi
bandit, brigand
匪夷所思
fěiyísuǒsī
bizarre, outlandish, unimaginable

2. Sound

/[feɪ̯²¹⁴]/Tone: 214

匪

fěifei3

ˇ(214)

=fěi

Build the syllable

Step-by-step blending

fei

Tone mark placement: Tone mark sits on "e" per main-vowel priority (a > e > o; in -iu/-ui the mark takes the second vowel).

Initial Consonant

Type: Labiodental Fricative

Sounds like: f sound

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Continuous smooth friction.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Upper teeth touching the inside of the lower lip.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -e vowel group

Sounds like: -ei rhymes with 'ay' in day

Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'ay'.

Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.

Tone

T3 (214)

2 → 1 → 4 (214)

3rd Tone (Low-Dipping)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 3 dips down like a hesitant question mark in English, dropping pitch before rising.

Sandhi: When followed by another Tone 3, it changes to Tone 2 (rising 35).

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the low dipping Tone 3 with Tone 4, or mishearing the initial 'f-' as 'h-' or 'p-'.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Trace an imaginary checkmark in the air: start mid-high, dip down low to your chest, and sweep slightly back up.

3. Writing

Topology: Full enclosure · Strokes: 10 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The outer box (匚) must maintain crisp, strong corners, while the internal component (非) should be evenly centered and balanced without touching the outer boundaries.

4. Components

Radical 匚 · Hiding Box Radical (box, hiding place)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 匚 (denotes a container, hideout, or enclosure where outlaws lurk)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 非 (original sound: fěi)

Picture a box (匚) hiding wrongdoers or outlaws (非), signifying bandits who operate outside the law.

匚 hiding box / enclosure
非 not / wrong (providing the sound and the sense of wrongdoing)

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

3· Phonetic Root: 匪 (fěi)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally combined the enclosure radical (匚) representing a den or hideout with (非) representing things that are not right or unlawful, depicting bandits hiding in secret locations.

Semantic Evolution: Shifted from a general sense of wrongdoing and hiding outlaws to specifically meaning 'bandit' or 'brigand', while retaining its ancient literary usage meaning 'not'.

Frequently used in historical martial arts and adventure novels to describe armed rebels and highwaymen.

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: ヒ / Kun: あらず

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

비

Sound Shift Bridge: Shares sound roots with literary terms across East Asian cultural spheres.

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Outlaws do wrong (非) things and hide away inside a secret box or mountain hideout (匚), becoming dangerous bandits (匪).

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

榧

fěiTorreya nucifera+ 木 (tree)

篚

fěiround covered basket+ ⺮ (bamboo)

Explore this family →

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

悲(bēi)

悲 has a heart (心) at the bottom; 匪 has an enclosure box (匚) wrapping around the left and bottom.

绯(fēi)

绯 replaces the box with the silk radical (纟), meaning scarlet silk.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

旧社会时，山里有很多横行霸道的土[___]。

Clue: fěi

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the open-box wrap with the radical for sickness or hiding, or writing the internal '非' component incorrectly.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see 匪, what does it mean as a noun and what is its literary meaning?

Production: How do you write the character for 'bandit' (fěi) using the hiding box and the component for 'wrong'?

匪fěibandit

Speed:

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