fèi

to boil

water (氵) + phonetic fèi (弗) = water boiling

The water radical carries all the meaning here — water in its most agitated state. 弗 mainly gives the sound fèi; picture the bubbles bursting upward.

+
No fixed semantic contribution herePhonetic
WaterSemantic

水烧到一百度就会腾。

shuǐ shāo dào yī bǎi dù jiù huì fèi téng。

Water boils when heated to one hundred degrees.

锅里的水已经腾了,可以下面条了。

guō lǐ de shuǐ yǐ jīng fèi téng le, kě yǐ xià miàn tiáo le。

The water in the pot is already boiling, so you can put the noodles in.

Words with 沸

鼎沸

dǐng fèi

a confused noise

人声鼎沸

rén shēng dǐng fèi

lit. a boiling cauldron of voices (idiom)

以汤沃沸

yǐ tāng wò fèi

to manage a situation badly (idiom)

民怨沸腾

mín yuàn fèi téng

seething discontent (idiom); popular grievances boil over

民怨鼎沸

mín yuàn dǐng fèi

seething discontent (idiom); popular grievances boil over

沸水

fèi shuǐ

boiling water

沸沸扬扬

fèi fèi yáng yáng

bubbling and gurgling

沸石

fèi shí

zeolite

沸腾

fèi téng

(of a liquid) to boil

沸点

fèi diǎn

boiling point

滚沸

gǔn fèi

(of a liquid) to boil

煮沸

zhǔ fèi

to boil

More characters with 氵