付费
fùfèi · HSK 7
pay
💳 付费 = pay (付) + fee (费); 'hand over' + 'cost'
付 means to hand over or pay, with 亻(person) handing something with 寸(hand). 费 means expense/cost, with 贝(shell/money) at the base — shells were ancient currency. Together: to pay a fee.
付 — person radical 亻 + hand 寸
付 originally pictured a hand (寸) reaching out to hand something to a person (亻), depicting the act of giving or delivering. The core sense 'to hand over, deliver, pay' has remained stable since ancient bronze inscriptions. It also serves as a phonetic component in characters like 附, 符, and 府.
费 — 弓 bow + 弗 (phonetic 'fú/fèi')
费 is a phono-semantic compound. The bottom 贝 (cowrie shell, ancient money) gives the meaning 'cost/expense,' while 弗 on top supplies the sound. Originally it referred to spending money or wasting resources, and today it means 'fee,' 'expense,' or 'to consume.'