沸 (fèi): to boil
沸 (fèi) is a Chinese character meaning “to boil.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 氵 (semantic) and 弗 (phonetic). It ranks #2563 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 沸 water. Its radical form 氵 (water) appears in many related characters such as 水 (shuǐ, water), 汉 (hàn, Han ethnic group), 汽 (qì, steam).
Definitions
- to boil
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 沸 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 沸腾verb | fèi téng | (of a liquid) to boil |
| 沸沸扬扬phrase | fèi fèi yáng yáng | bubbling and gurgling |
| 煮沸verb | zhǔ fèi | to boil |
| 沸水noun | fèi shuǐ | boiling water |
| 沸点noun | fèi diǎn | boiling point |
| 人声鼎沸phrase | rén shēng dǐng fèi | lit. a boiling cauldron of voices (idiom) |
| 热血沸腾 | rè xuè fèi téng | (idiom) to be fired up |
| 以汤沃沸 | yǐ tāng wò fèi | to manage a situation badly (idiom) |
| 民怨沸腾 | mín yuàn fèi téng | seething discontent (idiom) |
| 沸石noun | fèi shí | zeolite |
| 民怨鼎沸 | mín yuàn dǐng fèi | seething discontent (idiom) |
| 滚沸 | gǔn fèi | (of a liquid) to boil |
| 鼎沸adjective | dǐng fèi | a confused noise |
沸 appears in 13 compound words: 38 as the first character, 46 as the last, and 15 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 沸 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (4)
Example Sentences
沸水滚烫,小心烫伤。
Fèishuǐ gǔntàng, xiǎoxīn tàng shāng.
Boiling water is scalding, be careful of burns.
有人问:回家煮沸总行了吧?
yǒu rén wèn : huí jiā zhǔ fèi zǒng háng le ba ?
Someone asked, “Surely it’s okay to just boil it at home, right?”
现挤奶里可能同时存在多种致病菌,家庭煮沸往往温度不够、时间不足,杀菌不彻底。
xiàn jǐ nǎi lǐ kě néng tóng shí cún zài duō zhǒng zhì bìng jūn , jiā tíng zhǔ fèi wǎng wǎng wēn dù bù gòu , shí jiān bù zú , shā jūn bù chè de .
Freshly milked milk may contain multiple types of pathogenic bacteria; when boiled at home, the temperature is often too low and the boiling time too short, resulting in incomplete sterilization.
鱼虾建议沸水焯1~2分钟后捞出,既能去腥,也能保持鲜嫩的口感。
yú xiā jiàn yì fèi shuǐ 焯 1 2 fēn zhōng hòu lāo chū , jì néng qù xīng , yě néng bǎo chí xiān nèn de kǒu gǎn .
It is recommended to blanch fish and shrimp in boiling water for 1 to 2 minutes before removing them; this removes any fishy odor while preserving their tender texture.
每一处看似只是一个片段,但它们共同勾勒出一座曾经人声鼎沸的建筑。
měi yī chǔ kàn sì zhī shì yī gè piàn duàn , dàn tā men gòng tóng gōu lè chū yī zuò céng jīng rén shēng dǐng fèi de jiàn zhù .
Each one may seem like just a fragment, but together they paint a picture of a building that was once bustling with people.
除湿机水能喝吗?他自爆“煮沸后泡茶” 实测结果曝光
chú shī jī shuǐ néng hē ma ? tā zì bào zhǔ fèi hòu pāo chá shí cè jié guǒ pù guāng
Can you drink water from a dehumidifier? He revealed that he "boils it and uses it to make tea"—here are the test results
水沸腾后变为蒸汽。
Shuǐ fèiténg hòu biànwéi zhēngqì.
Water steams when it boils.
藉由煮沸以减少黏浆状物质。
Jièyóu zhǔfèi yǐ jiǎnshǎo nián jiāng zhuàngwù zhì.
Reduce to pulp by boiling.
听到这个让我感觉热血沸腾。
Tīngdào zhège ràng wǒ gǎnjué rèxuèfèiténg.
It made my blood boil to hear that.
我们的老师说水到了一百度就会沸腾。
Wǒmen de lǎoshī shuō shuǐ dào le yī Bǎidù jiù huì fèiténg.
Our teacher said that water boils at 100°C.
Character Family
Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 氵 (water) component
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 沸 (fèi) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 沸 and 佛?
How many strokes does 沸 have?
What is the radical of 沸?
What are the components of 沸?
What are common words containing 沸?
What characters sound the same as 沸 (fèi)?
Is 沸 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 沸 with real-time feedback
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