(fēi): to fly

(fēi) is a Chinese character meaning “to fly.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), with radical (fly). It ranks #347 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically pictographic, a bird flapping its wings. Its radical form (fly) appears in many related characters.

Native pronunciation
HSK 1Radical: fly3 strokesFrequency #347

Definitions

  1. to fly

Etymology & Origin

pictographicA bird flapping its wings

Stroke Order

1
2
3

Practice writing with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
nounfēi jīairplane1
verbfēi xíng(of planes etc) to fly5
verbqǐ fēi(of an aircraft or rocket) to take off3
nounfēi xíng yuánpilot5
adverbfēi sùswift6
verbfàng fēito allow to fly6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
fēi chuánspaceship
fēi lóngwyvern (type of dragon)
fēi xiángto circle in the air
fēi guòto fly over
fēi chēfast-moving vehicle
fēi yuèto fly across
fēi kuàivery fast
fēi dàn(Tw) missile
fēi diéflying saucer
fēi yuèto leap
fēi jī chǎngairport
fēi tǐngairship
fēi shì(of time) to pass quickly
ā fēihoodlum
fēi wǔto flutter
100
Total compounds
73
As first character
25
As last character
2
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 73 as the first character, 25 as the last, and 2 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

0.648218,198 co-occurrences
péng
0.4965,466 co-occurrences
chuán
0.49234,074 co-occurrences
háng
0.489195,834 co-occurrences
jiàn
0.474918 co-occurrences
yuè
0.4655,778 co-occurrences
zhuì
0.4623,291 co-occurrences
jià
0.45625,099 co-occurrences
shì
0.45016,728 co-occurrences
téng
0.4403,756 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (33)

bènniǎoxiānfēiHSK 4+

the slow need to start early for fear of falling behind

phrase
bǐyìqífēiHSK 7+

to be together day and night; to help each other and move forward together

phrase
bǐyìshuāngfēiHSK 7+

to be together day and night; to help each other and move forward together

phrase
chāchìnánfēiHSK 5+

unable to escape

phrase
fēi duǎn liú chángHSK 4+

to spread malicious gossip

phrase
fēiláihènghuòHSK 6+

unexpected disaster that suddenly befalls

phrase
fēi mò chuán rǎnHSK 7+

droplet infection (disease transmission from sneezing, coughing etc)

phrase
fēiqínzǒushòuHSK 7+

the birds and the beasts

phrase
fēiyánzǒubìHSK 7+

to leap onto roofs and vault over walls

phrase
fēi yě shì deHSK 5+

lit. as if flying; very fast

phrase
fēi yīng zǒu mǎHSK 7+

to ride out hawking (idiom); to hunt

phrase
线fēi zhēn zǒu xiànHSK 4+

flying needle and running seam (idiom); skillful needlework

phrase

Showing 12 of 33 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个字在古汉语中有不同的含义。

zhè gě fēi zì zài gǔ hàn yǔ zhōng yǒu bù tóng de hán yì .

The character "飞" (fēi) carries different meanings in classical Chinese.

三立新聞網Feb 2026

为了更远?冬奥跳台滑雪爆阴茎注射歪风

wéi le fēi gēng yuǎn ? dōng ào tiào tái huá xuě bào yīn jīng zhù shè wāi fēng

To fly further? Winter Olympics ski jumping exploded penis injection crooked

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

电影《驰人生3》在澳门热映

diàn yǐng fēi chí rén shēng 3 zài ào mén rè yìng

The movie "Flying Life 3" was released in Macau

東森新聞Feb 2026

8岁男骑车游南横 撞护栏抛摔溪底亡

8 suì nán qí chē yóu nán héng zhuàng hù lán pāo fēi shuāi xī de wáng

An 8-year-old male rode a bicycle to the south and crashed into a guardrail and fell to the bottom of the stream and died

WorldjournalFeb 2026

...1万元 济南长21米、高7米“巨型鳌鱼”了 全网急寻

. . . 1 wàn yuán jì nán cháng 2 1 mǐ , gāo 7 mǐ jù xíng 鳌 yú fēi le quán wǎng jí xún

... 10,000 yuan Jinan's 21-meter-long and 7-meter-high "giant turtle" flew and the whole network was urgently searching

百度新闻Feb 2026

黄金消费火热、春节不打烊,电商人一周三

huáng jīn xiāo fèi huǒ rè , chūn jié bù dǎ 烊 , diàn shāng rén yī zhōu sān fēi

Gold consumption is hot, the Spring Festival is not closed, and e-commerce people fly three times a week

Tatoeba

你乘机还是乘火车去?

Nǐ chéng fēijī háishì chéng huǒchē qù?

Are you going by air or by train?

Tatoeba

人们怎么能在机上睡觉?

Rénmen zěnme néng zài fēijī shàng shuìjiào?

How do people manage to sleep on the plane?

Tatoeba

请问有没有往纽约的不停站航班?

Qǐngwèn yǒuméiyǒu fēi wǎng Niǔyuē de bù tíngzhàn hángbān?

Is there a nonstop flight to New York?

Tatoeba

我们是不是直美国?

Wǒmen shìbùshì zhífēi Měiguó?

Are we making a nonstop flight to the U.S.?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced fēi

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 飞 (fēi) mean in Chinese?
飞 (fēi) primarily means "to fly." It is classified as HSK Level 1, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #347 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 飞 have?
飞 is written with 3 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 飞?
The radical associated with 飞 is 飞 (fly). This radical appears in many characters related to fly.
What are common words containing 飞?
Common words with 飞 include: 飞机 (fēi jī, "airplane"); 飞行 (fēi xíng, "(of planes etc) to fly"); 飞船 (fēi chuán, "spaceship"); 起飞 (qǐ fēi, "(of an aircraft or rocket) to take off"); 飞行员 (fēi xíng yuán, "pilot"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 飞 (fēi)?
Several characters share the pronunciation fēi: 非 (abbr. for 非洲, Africa), 啡 ((used in loanwords for its phonetic value)), 绯 (dark red), 肥 (fat, fertilizer), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 飞 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 飞 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.