費 (fèi) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

費

fèi[fei4]Tone 4

expense, cost, fee, to spend

HSK 3

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费

Guru Deep Dive

English · expense, cost, fee, to spend

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Topology:Top-bottom

Strokes:9

Writing Balance Rule: Top part (贝 shell/money) must be compressed slightly to leave ample room for the bottom active part (弗).

Simplification Logic: Traditional '費' uses '貝' (shell/money) at the top and '弗' at the bottom; simplified form keeps '费' retaining the exact same radical configuration with simplified components.

1. Meaning

cost, fee, expenses

to spend money or effortwastefulsurname Fei

Noun / VerbNeutral#finance#economy#action

Sample Usage

花费
huā fèi
to spend, expense
费时间
fèi shí jiān
to take up time, time-consuming

2. Sound

/[feɪ̯⁵¹]/Tone: 51

費

fèifei4

`(51)

=fèi

Initial Consonant

Type: Labiodental Fricative

Sounds like: f sound in English 'fall'

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Continuous smooth friction.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Upper teeth gently touching the inner lower lip, blowing air continuously.

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

T4 (51)

5 → 1 (51)

4th Tone (High-Falling)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 4 starts high and drops sharply to the bottom, just like shouting 'No!' in command.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the Tone 4 falling pitch (51) with Tone 2 rising pitch (35) or Tone 1 high level (55).

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A sharp, forceful karate chop downwards from head to chest, reflecting a downward drop in pitch.

3. Writing

Topology: Top-bottom · Strokes: 9 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: Top part (贝 shell/money) must be compressed slightly to leave ample room for the bottom active part (弗).

4. Components

Radical 贝 · Shell / Money Radical (wealth, money, value)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 贝 (indicates money, cost, or financial expenses)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 弗 (original sound: fú / fèi sound clue)

Money (贝) being spent away like a flag fluttering in the wind (弗).

贝 money or valuable shells
弗 phonetic and conceptual clue for paying out

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

15· Phonetic Root: 弗 (fú)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combined from 贝 (shell money) representing currency and 弗 (to split/disperse) representing spending or scattering money.

Semantic Evolution: Originally referring to the dispersal of wealth or expenditure, it expanded to mean fees, costs, and wasting.

Shells were used as ancient currency in China, which is why financial characters frequently contain the shell radical.

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: ヒ / Kun: つい.やす

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

비

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

You spend all your seashells (贝) until they fly away into the wind (弗), costing you a fortune in fees (费).

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

费

fèicost, expenseBase form with shell radical

拂

fúto flick, brush awayUses hand radical (扌) instead of shell

佛

fóBuddhaUses person radical (亻) instead of shell

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

佛(fó)

佛 refers to Buddha (person radical 亻), whereas 费 refers to costs and money (shell radical 贝).

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

買這輛車需要花很多[___]。

Clue: fèi

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the Tone 4 falling tone with Tone 2, resulting in a rising pronunciation that native speakers find confusing.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does the character 费 mean when combined with money or time?

Production: How do you write the character for 'cost, fee, or expense' (fèi)?

費fèiexpense, cost, fee, to spend

Speed:

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