保费 (bǎo fèi) — insurance premium; bail money; bail

Definition

noun

insurance premiumbail moneybail

保费。
Jīn nián de bǎo fèi bǐ qù nián zhǎng le bù shǎo.
This year's insurance premium has gone up quite a bit compared to last year.
，保费。
Tā bèi jǐng chá dài zǒu, jiā rén zhèng zài chóu bǎo fèi.
He was taken away by the police, and his family is raising bail money.
，保费。
Mǎi bǎo xiǎn shí, bǎo fèi de duō shǎo gēn fēng xiǎn yǒu guān.
When buying insurance, the amount of the premium is related to the risk.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

保bǎoinsurance

The 保 (insurance) and 费 (fee) parts combine to mean the fee paid for insurance.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

保 originally showed a person 人 carrying a child 子 on their back, which led to the sense of protecting.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 費; 费 is its simplified writing.

弗貝費

Meaning part形符xíngfú

貝貝bèicowry

Sound part声符shēngfú

弗

弗fú費fèi

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 費 has 貝, a cowry shell, and 弗, which gives a sound; the simplified 费 is a shorthand, and its parts are not the original pieces.