abbr. for 非洲[Fei1 zhou1], Africa
to not be; not / wrong; incorrect / non-; un-; in-; de- / to reproach; to blame / (coll.) to insist on; simply must

= + 丿 + : Mnemonic symbol: a negative film (photography).

Frankenstein's monster (f) made an effort to photograph the Eiffel Tower (ei1), but now his negative (非) is a big mess. In front of the tower he set up a camera on a Cartesian coordinate system (三) as a tripod, and he attached a banana (丿) and a dinosaur bone (丨) to the camera so that he can finely tune the angles. All was for naught as he now holds the messed up negative in his hands.

非 character breakdown

three / 3

= + : Mnemonic symbol: a Cartesian coordinate system with three (三) axes.

Socrates (s-) is performing in front of the anthill (-an1). He created an electrical flute by attaching a large capacitor (二) to the flute (一), so that he can get the attention of all the ants. Moreover, he's balancing on a Cartesian coordinate system (三). Unfortunately, only three (三) ants stop to watch the performance.
radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 2)

Mnemonic symbol: a dinosaur bone. Gitta Giraffe (gu-) found a gorgeous dinosaur bone (丨) in the encampment's living room ((e)n3).
vertical stroke (in Chinese characters), referred to as 豎筆|竖笔[shu4 bi3]

Mnemonic symbol: a dinosaur bone. Sheldon Shrimp (shu) found a gorgeous dinosaur bone (丨) in the space station's bathroom (Ø4) and is cracking it open to eat its bone marrow.
radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 4) / see 撇[pie3]

Pocahontas (pi-) is eating a banana (丿) in the elevator's living room (-e3).

Characters with 非 as component

amputation of limbs as corporal punishment / variant of 腓, calf
to hide / hideout
big
coarse / sandals
to want to articulate one's thoughts but be unable to
raft / shield / stern of junk
old variant of 屄[bi1]
prickly heat
variant of 痱[fei4]
carriage (archaic)
fragrant

Words with 非

things are very different now (idiom) / times have changed
apparently right but actually wrong; specious (idiom)
China-Africa (relations) / Central Africa / Central African Republic
to not really understand / to half-understand
like a smile yet not a smile (idiom)
not to reciprocate is against etiquette (classical) / to respond in kind
lit. until you reach the Great Wall, you're not a proper person; fig. to get over difficulties before reaching the goal
Asia, Africa and Latin America
Knowledge is not innate to man, how can we overcome doubt? / We are not born with knowledge, how does one achieve maturity? (i.e. without guidance from a teacher - Tang dynasty essayist Han Yu 韓愈|韩愈[Han2 Yu4])

Sentences with 非

zhè
táo
fe̅i
tóng
xiǎo
kě
 
 
jiǔ
qia̅n
nián
 
 
ka̅i
hua̅