啡fēi

啡

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简体

Simplified Chinese

啡 (fēi) appears almost exclusively in the compound 咖啡 (kāfēi, coffee), a modern loanword from English. The character pairs the mouth radical 口 with 非 as a phonetic component — a common method for creating new characters for imported sounds. Unlike many characters, 啡 remains unchanged between simplified and traditional forms.

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Shuowen

啡. The phonetic component 非 appears on oracle bones as a pictogram of a bird's wing, originally meaning 'not'; the addition of the mouth radical (口) creates the modern character, indicating the act of drinking, as in coffee.

Pinyin

fēi· HSK 1

啡fēi

Character evolution

Shuowen

Pinyin