啡 (fēi) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

啡

fēi[fei1]Tone 1

coffee

HSK 3

Guru Deep Dive

English · coffee

Cached lesson

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:11

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (mouth radical 口) takes up about one-third of the width, leaving the remaining two-thirds for the right phonetic component (非).

1. Meaning

used in loanwords for its phonetic value, primarily in coffee

transliteration character for the sound 'fei'

Character / Bound morphemeNeutralBound morpheme#loanword#beverage#phonetic

Sample Usage

咖啡
kāfēi
coffee
吗啡
mǎfēi
morphine

2. Sound

/[feɪ̯⁵⁵]/Tone: 55

啡

fēifei1

¯(55)

=fēi

Initial Consonant

Type: Labiodental Fricative

Sounds like: f sound as in English 'fox'

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Continuous smooth friction.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Upper teeth touch lower lip

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -e vowel group

Sounds like: -ei rhymes with 'hey' or 'day'

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

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

Tone

T1 (55)

5 → 5 (55)

1st Tone (High-Flat)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 1 is a high, steady pitch, similar to the flat tone of a musical note sustained at the top of your vocal range.

👂

Listening trap: Do not confuse with Tone 2 (féi), make sure the pitch stays high and flat without rising.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Keep your hand flat and steady at a high level in front of you, matching the high level pitch of Tone 1.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 11 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (mouth radical 口) takes up about one-third of the width, leaving the remaining two-thirds for the right phonetic component (非).

4. Components

Radical 口 · Mouth Radical (mouth, speech, opening)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 口 (indicates that this character is used for speech, sound, or phonetic loan purposes)

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

The mouth radical (口) is placed on the left to show that the character represents a spoken sound or foreign phonetic loan, paired with 'fēi' (非) on the right for the exact pronunciation.

口 Mouth / phonetic indicator
非 Non / wrong / phonetic component providing the sound 'fēi'

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

26· Phonetic Root: 非 (fēi)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Created as a modern phonetic loan character to transliterate foreign sounds like 'fee' or 'phi' into Chinese, combining the mouth radical (口) to denote speech/sound with the phonetic (非).

Semantic Evolution: Primarily reserved for loanwords and foreign transliterations, most notably in the word for coffee (咖啡).

Characters with the mouth radical are frequently deployed to capture non-Chinese phonetic sounds in foreign loanwords.

6. Sinosphere

Sound Shift Bridge: Used universally in modern Mandarin for mapping foreign syllables starting with 'f'.

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

You open your MOUTH (口) to drink a cup of coffee, shouting 'NOT (非) decaf!' because you need that strong caffeine hit.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

排

páirow, arrangeUses hand radical (扌) instead of mouth (口).

罪

zuìsin, crimeUses net radical (罒) on top.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

非(fēi)

非 means 'not' or 'wrong' without any radical; 啡 adds the mouth radical (口) on the left because it is used for sounds and loanwords like coffee.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

我每天早上都要喝一杯卡[___]。

Clue: fēi

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the standalone character 非 (fēi - not) with 啡 (fēi - used in coffee), forgetting that coffee requires the mouth radical (口) because it is a borrowed phonetic word.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see the mouth radical next to 非 in 啡, what is its primary function?

Production: How do you write the character for the 'fēi' sound used in coffee (kāfēi)?

啡fēicoffee

Speed:

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