消费
xiāofèi · HSK 3
to consume (goods and services, resources etc)
💸 消费 = 消 (dissolve/use up) + 费 (fee/expense)
消 means to dissolve or eliminate; 费 means fee or cost. Together they mean to use up money — expenditure or consumption. Same 费 appears in 学费 (tuition) and 免费 (free of charge).
消 — water 氵 + 肖 (phonetic)
消 is a semantic-phonetic compound: the water radical 氵 indicates the meaning, while 肖 (xiào) supplies the sound. It originally described water dwindling or melting away, and from there extended to the modern senses of vanishing, dissolving, and dispelling.
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.'