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coffee (in 咖啡)

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

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

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

Words unlocked by 啡

咖啡 kāfēi
coffee
咖啡因 kāfēiyīn
caffeine
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