咖啡吧 (kā fēi ba) — coffee bar, café | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A 'coffee bar' or 'café' — a casual spot to drink coffee, lighter and more informal than 餐厅 (restaurant), which centers on meals.

noun

coffee barcafé

Measure word · 家

Examples

咖啡吧。
Wǒ men zài zhè jiā kā fēi ba hē kā fēi.
We drink coffee at this coffee bar.
咖啡吧。
Zhè jiā kā fēi ba de huán jìng hěn hǎo.
The atmosphere of this coffee bar is very nice.
咖啡吧。
Tā měi tiān xià wǔ qù kā fēi ba gōng zuò.
He goes to the coffee bar to work every afternoon.

Origin

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.

咖啡coffee

咖kā啡fēi

"咖啡" spells coffee and "吧" denotes a bar-like place, together a coffee bar.

Characters in this word

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

口加咖

Meaning part形符xíngfú

口口kǒumouth

Sound part声符shēngfú

加

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

The left part is 口, showing a mouth, and the right part is 加, which gives the sound jiā.

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

口非啡

Meaning part形符xíngfú

口口kǒumouth

Sound part声符shēngfú

非

Same sound today

啡 combines 口 (mouth) with 非, which supplies the sound.

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Appears in

Beverages Dining & Restaurants

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.