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啡

coffee (in 咖啡)

fēi
11 strokes · 口 (mouth radical) + 非 (not, sound fēi) · HSK 2

What 啡 is made of

口 + 非 = 啡
口mouth kǒu
非not; non-; wrong fēi

Where 啡 comes from

The second half of 咖啡, built the same way: mouth radical for 'borrowed drink sound', 非 for the phonetic. 咖 and 啡 are a bonded pair — neither means much alone, together they mean deadlines survived.

啡 in Chinese culture

啡 rides wherever coffee goes: 拿铁咖啡 latte, 美式咖啡 Americano, 手冲咖啡 pour-over. Coffee vocabulary is one of the fastest-growing corners of modern Chinese — baristas in Chengdu debate 豆子 (beans) with sommelier vocabulary.

Example

咖啡 kāfēi — coffee

这家咖啡店很有名。
Zhè jiā kāfēidiàn hěn yǒumíng.
This coffee shop is famous.

How to remember it

口 + 非: 'NOT 非 just any mouthful 口' — the second sip of COFFEE.

Decaf is 无因咖啡 'cause-less coffee' — caffeine 咖啡因 is literally 'the coffee cause', so removing it removes the 因.

Same sound, different tones

啡
1st fēi
coffee
肥
2nd féi
fat
匪
3rd fěi
bandit
费
4th fèi
fee

Words unlocked by 啡

咖啡 kāfēi
coffee
咖啡因 kāfēiyīn
caffeine

Related characters

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