HSK 6 · Ideas

是非 shìfēi “right and wrong” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 是非 means

  1. right and wrong
  2. dispute
  3. gossip
  4. quarrel

How to say 是非

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale是shì4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale非fēi1st tone, high and level

是非 in a sentence

  1. 是非对错，有时很难分辨。

    Shìfēi duì cuò, yǒushí hěn nán fēnbiàn.

    Sometimes it’s hard to tell right from wrong.

    Sentence #602902 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 他是非不分。

    Tā shìfēi bù fēn.

    He has no sense of right and wrong.

    Sentence #332927 from Tatoeba

  3. 他被卷进了是非中。

    Tā bèi juǎnjìn le shìfēi zhōng.

    He got caught up in the dispute.

    Sentence #336450 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 是非 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 是 (shì) with each of its parts in a different colour
是shìto be
  • 日sun · rì
  • 疋roll of cloth · pǐ
The character 非 (fēi) drawn as one shape
非fēito not be; not

非 is a single shape of 8 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

How to write 是非

是 9 strokes · 非 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 是非

Words with 是

是shì · to be但是dànshì · but总是zǒngshì · always还是háishi · or只是zhǐshì · only可是kěshì · but是否shìfǒu · whether (or not)要是yàoshi · if于是yúshì · thereupon就是jiùshì · exactly

Words with 非

非常fēicháng · extremely非fēi · to not be除非chúfēi · only if (…非法fēifǎ · illegal并非bìngfēi · to not be无非wúfēi · nothing but

More words: Ideas & Concepts

声势shēngshì · momentum生肖shēngxiào · Chinese zodiac sign声誉shēngyù · reputation神仙shénxiān · immortal事迹shìjì · deed事件shìjiàn · event实力shílì · strength使命shǐmìng · mission

FAQs

是非 (shìfēi) means “right and wrong” or “dispute”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it shìfēi: shì with a 4th 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. 是非 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type shifei with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 是非 from the suggestions. Typing shifei into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
是非 is an HSK 6 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.