HSK 2 · Food

咖啡 kāfēi “coffee” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 咖啡 means

  1. coffee

Measure word 杯 bēi · 一杯咖啡 yì bēi kāfēi

How to say 咖啡

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale咖kā1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale啡fēi1st tone, high and level

咖啡 in a sentence

  1. 您想要茶还是咖啡？

    Nín xiǎngyào chá háishi kāfēi?

    Would you like tea or coffee?

    Sentence #335008 from Tatoeba

  2. 请给我一杯咖啡。

    Qǐng gěi wǒ yì bēi kāfēi.

    Could I have a cup of coffee, please?

    Sentence #1899453 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 我一点咖啡也不喝。

    Wǒ yìdiǎn kāfēi yě bù hē.

    I don’t drink coffee at all.

    Sentence #8914626 from Tatoeba

How 咖啡 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 咖 (kā) with each of its parts in a different colour
咖kācoffee; café
  • 口mouth · kǒuMeaning part
  • 加to add to · jiāSound part

口 hints at the meaning (mouth); 加 (jiā) hints at the sound. Compare it with kā.

The character 啡 (fēi) with each of its parts in a different colour
啡fēiused in loanwords for its phonetic value
  • 口mouth · kǒuMeaning part
  • 非wrong · fēiSound part

口 hints at the meaning (mouth); 非 (fēi) hints at the sound. Compare it with fēi.

How to write 咖啡

咖 8 strokes · 啡 11 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

咖啡 (kāfēi) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 咖啡 (kāfēi). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 咖啡

More words: Food & Drink

西瓜xīguā · watermelon羊肉yángròu · lamb鱼yú · fish面条miàntiáo · noodles饭馆fànguǎn · restaurant红茶hóngchá · black tea绿茶lǜchá · green tea面miàn · noodles

FAQs

咖啡 (kāfēi) means “coffee”. It is an HSK 2 word, so it is one of the words learners meet early.
Say it kāfēi: kā with a 1st tone, then fēi with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 咖啡 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Use 杯 (bēi). For example, one coffee is 一杯咖啡 (yì bēi kāfēi).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type kafei with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 咖啡 from the suggestions. Typing kafei into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
咖啡 is an HSK 2 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.