The kanji 費 primarily means "expense," "cost," "expenditure," or "to spend." It represents the concept of using or consuming resources, particularly money or time, for a specific purpose. It implies an outlay or a loss of something valuable.

・On-yomi (音読み): ヒ ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): つい(やす) (tsui(yasu))

⚫︎費用 (ひよう) Translation: expense; cost; expenditure ⚫︎学費 (がくひ) Translation: tuition; school expenses ⚫︎消費 (しょうひ) Translation: consumption; spending

The kanji 費 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字, けいせいいもじ). The semantic component is 貝 (かい), meaning "shell" or "currency," reflecting the association with money or wealth, something used for expenditure. The phonetic component is 弗 (ふつ, futsu), which contributes to the pronunciation. The character therefore depicts the action of spending or expending money (represented by the shell). Over time, it developed its broader meaning of expense or cost.