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coffee (in 咖啡)

8 strokes · 口 (mouth radical) + 加 (to add, sound kā) · HSK 2

Where 咖 comes from

A pure transliteration character: when coffee arrived, Chinese built 咖啡 kāfēi from mouth-radical phonetics — 口 flags 'this is a sound-borrowing for something you drink'. 咖 has almost no life outside the cup, which makes it easy: see 咖, smell coffee.

咖 in Chinese culture

China drinks tea by heritage and coffee by ambition: Shanghai now counts more coffee shops than any city on Earth. 咖 also grew a slang life — 大咖 'big shot' borrowed from Taiwanese usage, so a coffee character ended up meaning VIP.

Example

咖啡 kāfēi — coffee

我想喝一杯咖啡。
Wǒ xiǎng hē yì bēi kāfēi.
I'd like a cup of coffee.

How to remember it

Mouth 口 plus add 加 — ADD it to your mouth every morning: COFFEE.

生椰拿铁 raw-coconut latte sold a billion cups and proved China doesn't adopt coffee culture — it forks it.

Same sound, different tones

1st kā
coffee
3rd kǎ
card

Words unlocked by 咖

咖啡 kāfēi
coffee
咖啡馆 kāfēiguǎn
café
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One character a morning · 169-character HSK library · iOS