非 (fēi): abbr. for 非洲, Africa, to not be, not, wrong, incorrect
非 (fēi) is a Chinese character meaning “to not be.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), with radical 非 (wrong). It ranks #283 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 非 two bird's wings opposed; two people back-to-back. Its radical form 非 (wrong) appears in many related characters such as 靠 (kào, to lean against or on).
Definitions
- abbr. for 非洲, Africa
- to not be
- not
- wrong
- incorrect
Etymology & Origin
ideographicTwo bird's wings opposed; two people back-to-back
Stroke Order
Practice writing 非 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 非
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 非常adverb | fēi cháng | very | 1 |
| 除非conjunction | chú fēi | only if (..., or otherwise, ...) | 6 |
| 非洲noun | fēi zhōu | Africa | 5 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 非法adjective | fēi fǎ | illegal |
| 并非verb | bìng fēi | really isn't |
| 非得verb | fēi děi | (followed by a verb phrase, then – optionally – 不可, or 不行 etc) must |
| 非凡adjective | fēi fán | out of the ordinary |
| 是非noun | shì fēi | right and wrong |
| 南非proper-noun | nán fēi | South Africa |
| 非正式adjective | fēi zhèng shì | unofficial |
| 莫非adverb | mò fēi | can it be possible that |
| 绝非verb | jué fēi | absolutely not |
| 非人noun | fēi rén | inhuman |
| 非同寻常 | fēi tóng xún cháng | (idiom) extraordinary |
| 无非adverb | wú fēi | only |
| 面目全非 | miàn mù quán fēi | nothing remains the same (idiom) |
| 非官方adjective | fēi guān fāng | unofficial |
| 北非proper-noun | běi fēi | North Africa |
非 appears in 100 compound words: 72 as the first character, 21 as the last, and 7 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 非 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (45)
Showing 12 of 45 idioms containing 非.
Example Sentences
写好非字需要掌握正确的笔画顺序。
xiě hǎo fēi zì xū yāo zhǎng wò zhēng què de bǐ huà shùn xù .
To write the character "非" correctly, you need to master the proper stroke order.
乳腺增生要动手术吗?手术是最后选择,非首选方案
rǔ xiàn zēng shēng yāo dòng shǒu shù ma ? shǒu shù shì zuì hòu xuǎn zé , fēi shǒu xuǎn fāng àn
Do breast hyperplasia require surgery? Surgery is the last option, not the first option
...山投信首档ETF‘00988B 玉山严选非投债ETF’3/2正式募集
. . . shān tóu xìn shǒu dàng E T F 0 0 9 8 8 B yù shān yán xuǎn fēi tóu zhài E T F 3 2 zhèng shì mù jí
... Shandou Trust's first ETF '00988B E.SUN Yanxuan Non-Investment Bond ETF'3/2 was officially raised
年后猪价重挫非美猪惹祸?养猪协会:与进口猪有关
nián hòu zhū jià chóng cuò fēi měi zhū rě huò ? yǎng zhū xié huì : yǔ jìn kǒu zhū yǒu guān
After the year, pig prices plummeted, and non-American pigs caused trouble? Pig Breeding Association: Related to imported pigs
非常AI的一年 2026从剧场、美术馆到文...
fēi cháng A I de yī nián 2 0 2 6 cóng jù chǎng , měi shù guǎn dào wén . . .
A very AI year 2026 From theaters, art galleries to culture...
横跨东西非 周大观基金会颁生命奖章肯定人权行动者
héng kuà dōng xī fēi zhōu dà guàn jī jīn huì bān shēng mìng jiǎng zhāng kěn dìng rén quán háng dòng zhě
Across East and West Africa, the Chow Tai Kwan Foundation awarded the Life Medal in recognition of human rights activists
非常好。你去了今天的历史研讨会吗？
Fēicháng hǎo. nǐ qù le jīntiān de lìshǐ yántǎohuì ma?
Pretty good. Did you go to today's history seminar?
一个像她那么大的小孩能够分辨是非吗？
Yī gè xiàng tā nàme dà de xiǎohái nénggòu fēnbiàn shìfēi ma?
Can a child of her age distinguish good from bad?
你们有非吸烟区吗？
Nǐmen yǒu fēixīyān qū ma?
Do you have a non-smoking section?
玛丽非常不开心，不是吗？
Mǎlì fēicháng bù kāixīn, bùshìma?
Mary is very unhappy, isn't she?
Character Family
非 Radical Family — Characters sharing the wrong radical
Related Characters
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 非 (fēi) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 非 and 正?
How many strokes does 非 have?
What is the radical of 非?
What are common words containing 非?
What characters sound the same as 非 (fēi)?
Is 非 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 非 with real-time feedback
Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.