huā fèi
dépenser; s'acquitter; coûter; dépenser
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这次旅行花费了我很多钱。
Zhè cì lǚxíng huāfèi le wǒ hěn duō qián.
This trip cost me a lot of money.
他把所有的钱都花费在了买书上。
Tā bǎ suǒyǒu de qián dōu huāfèi zài le mǎi shū shàng.
He spent all his money on buying books.
这个项目花费了我们很多时间和精力。
Zhège xiàngmù huāfèi le wǒmen hěn duō shíjiān hé jīnglì.
This project took us a lot of time and effort.
开支 (kāizhī)
expenditure
用度 (yòngdù)
expenses
The Chinese word 花费 (huāfèi) for "cost" or "expense" is composed of two characters: 花 (huā) and 费 (fèi). The character 花 originally meant "flower" and was later extended to mean "spend" or "use". The character 费 originally meant "to use up" or "to consume" and was later extended to mean "cost" or "expense". The combination of these two characters creates the word 花费, which literally means "to spend flowers" or "to use up flowers". This metaphorical expression conveys the idea of using something valuable or precious, like flowers, to pay for something, thus emphasizing the cost or expense involved.
