旅费 (lǚ fèi) — travel expenses | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

travel expenses

旅费。
Zhè cì chū chāi de gōng sī bào xiāo lǚ fèi.
The company reimburses travel expenses for this business trip.
旅费。
Tā zǎn le bàn nián de gōng zī cái còu gòu lǚ fèi.
He saved half a year's salary just to scrape together enough for travel expenses.
旅费。
Shǔ jià de lǚ fèi bǐ píng shí guì hěn duō.
Travel expenses during summer vacation are much more expensive than usual.

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.

旅 'travel' and 费 'expense' combine for costs of traveling.

Characters in this word

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

旅 combines 㫃, a flag, and 从, two people, to show troops or a brigade.

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.