飞/飛 fēi — to fly; to flit, to dart; swiftly, at speed

Pinyin

• fēi (first tone, high and level)

to fly; to flit, to dart; swiftly, at speed

Character breakdown

• 飞shape partOne wing and its feathers. The traditional 飛 draws the whole bird — neck and head thrown forward, both wings beating — and simplification kept a third of it.

Mnemonic

Three strokes, and they are one wing of the traditional 飛 with its feathers: the bird has flown and left a single pinion behind. Note that it is a radical in its own right and heads almost nothing else — the section exists for this one word. 飞机 an aeroplane, 坐飞机 to fly somewhere, 飞行员 a pilot.

A memory aid written by HSK Guide editors. It is not an etymology and does not describe the historical origin of the character.

Words containing 飞

• 飞/飛fēi (first tone, high and level)to fly
• 飞机/飛機fēijī (first tone, high and level)aeroplane, plane
• 飞行/飛行fēi (first tone, high and level) xíng (second tone, rising)(of planes etc) to fly
• 起飞/起飛qǐfēi (third tone, dipping)to take off (of an aircraft)
• 飞船/飛船fēi (first tone, high and level) chuán (second tone, rising)spaceship
• 飞行员/飛行員fēi (first tone, high and level) xíng (second tone, rising) yuán (second tone, rising)pilot
• 飞往/飛往fēi (first tone, high and level) wǎng (third tone, dipping)Go to
• 飞翔/飛翔fēi (first tone, high and level) xiáng (second tone, rising)to fly
• 飞跃/飛躍fēi (first tone, high and level) yuè (fourth tone, falling)to leap
• 飞速/飛速fēi (first tone, high and level) sù (fourth tone, falling)swift
• 不翼而飞/不翼而飛bù (fourth tone, falling) yì (fourth tone, falling) ér (second tone, rising) fēi (first tone, high and level)to disappear without trace
• 飞禽走兽/飛禽走獸fēi (first tone, high and level) qín (second tone, rising) zǒu (third tone, dipping) shòu (fourth tone, falling)birds and animals