How to write 非 (fēi, “to not be”)

非 (fēi), an HSK 1 character, means “to not be”, “wrong” and “non-”. Make Me a Hanzi uses it in 29 other characters, such as 啡 (“used in loanwords”). On its own it is an HSK 7-9 word; it also forms 非常 (“very”), 非洲 (“Africa”) and 除非 (“only if”). Japanese reads it hi, “un-”, as a JLPT N3 kanji.

Pinyin: fēi
Strokes: 8
HSK: 1
Radical: 非 (“to not be”)

Stroke by stroke

Vertical then left-falling ㇓top leftdownwards
Horizontal ㇐top leftrightwards
Horizontal ㇐leftrightwards
Rising stroke ㇀bottom leftrightwards
Vertical ㇑topdownwards
Horizontal ㇐toprightwards
Horizontal ㇐centerrightwards
Horizontal ㇐centerrightwards

Names of the strokes

Japanese and Chinese

Japanese and Chinese draw all 8 strokes in the same order and direction, by our stroke-by-stroke comparison.

Japanese · KanjiVG · 8 strokes

Chinese · Make Me a Hanzi · 8 strokes

非 inside other characters

Make Me a Hanzi count: 29 characters.

Trace it

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Pinyin and meaning

Pinyin	Meanings	Traditional	In words
fēi first tone	to not be; not; wrong; incorrect; non-; un-; in-; de-; to reproach; to blame; (coll.) to insist on; simply must	—	非常非洲除非是非

HSK 2025 syllabus: level 1
2021 standard: level 1
HSK 2.0: in a level 2 word
Words with it: 151 in CC-CEDICT

Words with 非

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
非	fēi	to not be; not HSK 7-9
非常	fēicháng	very; really HSK 1
非洲	Fēizhōu	Africa; abbr. for 阿非利加洲 (ĀfēilìjiāZhōu) HSK 5
除非	chúfēi	only if (..., or otherwise, ...); only when HSK 6
是非	shìfēi	right and wrong; quarrel HSK 7-9
非得	fēiděi	(followed by a verb phrase, then – optionally – 不可, or 不行 etc) must HSK 7-9
非但	fēidàn	not only HSK 7-9
非法	fēifǎ	illegal HSK 7-9
面目全非	miànmù-quánfēi	nothing remains the same (idiom); change beyond recognition HSK 7-9
并非並非	bìngfēi	really isn't HSK 7-9

HSK words first (CC-CEDICT).

Practice sheet

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Contain it:

HSK 1, in list order: