费

Tap the pinyin to hear it

to cost; to spend; fee; wasteful; expenses

Formation & memory

Break the character into parts you already know.

Phono-semantic compound (形声字)

贝 meaning “money” + 弗 sound ( fú )

Components 弗贝

expense · Heisig RSH #1020

dollar sign + clam

Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.

The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
费马大定理	Fèi mǎ dà dìng lǐ	(math.) Fermat's Last Theorem
费利克斯	Fèi lì kè sī	Felix
费尔马	Fèi ěr mǎ	Pierre de Fermat (1601–1665), French mathematician
不费事	bù fèi shì	not troublesome
三公经费	sān gōng jīng fèi	"three public expenditures" of the PRC government, i.e. air travel, food and entertainment…
人工费	rén gōng fèi	labor cost
用人经费	yòng rén jīng fèi	personnel expenditure (accountancy)
上门费	shàng mén fèi	house call fee; callout fee
特内里费	Tè nèi lǐ fèi	Tenerife
费加罗报	Fèi jiā luó bào	Le Figaro
费县	Fèi Xiàn	Fei County or Feixian, a county in Linyi City 臨沂市\|临沂市[Lin2 yi2 Shi4], Shandong
水费	shuǐ fèi	water bill
转会费	zhuǎn huì fèi	transfer fee; signing bonus; sign-on bonus
学费	xué fèi	tuition fee; tuition; CL:個\|个[ge4]
费心	fèi xīn	to take a lot of trouble (over sb or sth); may I trouble you (to do sth)
出场费	chū chǎng fèi	appearance fee
物业费	wù yè fèi	property management fee
管理费	guǎn lǐ fèi	management fee
费尔巴哈	Fèi ěr bā hā	Ludwig Feuerbach (1804-1872), materialist philosopher
海运费	hǎi yùn fèi	shipping; sea transport

Characters sharing the sound component 弗 — compare how they read.

Character	Pinyin	Meaning
弗 sound part	fú	not, negative
佛	fú	Buddha; Buddhist
氟	fú	fluorine
沸	fèi	to boil, to bubble up, to gush
拂	fú	to shake off, to brush away; dust
怫	fú	anxious; depressed; sorry
狒	fèi	baboon
绋	fú	thick rope; the rope around a bier
砩	fú	to build a dam with rocks
茀	fú	weeds; overgrowth
艴	fú	angry, showing emotion on one's face