<p>Simply, 费电 means waste the electricity, 耗电 means consume the electricity.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-26T15:48:37.660Z
seems to confirm comments #1,2
user6065
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-26T15:46:19.180Z
2018-06-26T15:46:19.180Z
zyy
<p>费 in 费电 means "spend/ cost"</p>

<p>耗 in 耗电 means "consume/ use up"</p>

<p><strong>cost</strong> $24 worth of electricity a year = 每年花(<strong>費</strong>)24美元的電力</p>

<p><strong>consume</strong> 5000kw of electricity a year = 每年消(<strong>耗</strong>)5000千瓦的電力</p>

<p><em>'费电' doesn't mean 'waste electricity';  '浪費電力' does</em></p>

<p><em>费 = spend</em> </p>

<p><em>浪費 = wastefully spend = waste</em></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-27T08:14:27.897Z
Ok thanks, so if I say 这个app很费电/耗电 ... is there any difference between these two? Which way is more commonly used?
Angus Macrae
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-27T08:29:04.530Z
You can say 费电 focus on the  amount of  electricity that's being spent  ; 耗电 focus on the amount of electricity that is being consumed' ( sounds similar enough) . 耗电 is more common in the region I live,
Tang Ho
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-27T04:58:48.553Z
2018-06-27T05:05:27.377Z
2018-06-27T05:05:27.377Z
Tang Ho
<p>In the context of phone apps, 这个app很费电 vs 这个app很耗电: there is a subtle difference. </p>

<p>这个app很费电 sounds that the App consumes more power than you think it's necessary. It can be a way of complaining. </p>

<p>这个app很耗电 is  neutral. It sounds that the App consume lots of power, which is necessary by its nature. For example, a camera App is generally considered as more power-consuming App. You will accept its consumption because it's the common sense. </p>

<p>In practice, people might not really care about the nuance and sometimes they use them interchangeably.  </p>

<p>I think that nuance applies to other contexts as well. For example, we say: 空调很耗电的, it's the common sense that AC consumes more power than other household appliances, so you wouldn't complain about it. On the other hand, 这空调很费电的 sounds like this AC consumes more power than any other ACs(consume more than it's necessary). The latter sentence can be a complaining.  </p>

<p>Hope this would help you. </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-28T07:12:09.620Z
2018-06-28T07:12:09.620Z
dan
<p>It depends on the context you're using these words. If you say something is "费电", take it as adj., then it mainly means the device consumed a lot of electricity. Sometimes, if you take it as a verb, then it means the device is consuming (usually, a lot of) electricity. So from these, you may see "费电" is commonly derogatory. While "耗电" is just a neutral word, which is used to describe the power consumption. For example, this device "耗电" 1kw. This is a just neutral description. However, if you use an adjective word, like "很(pretty much)", before "耗电", then it also become a derogatory word which means it consumes a lot of power. So if you're try to pick a word in phone app, in most of case, I suggest "耗电". For example, tap the button of "耗电排行(Power Ranking)", to show a list of apps with their power consumption statistics.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-27T08:13:12.013Z
2018-06-27T08:13:12.013Z
Bruce Huang
<p>In the context of phone apps, is there a difference between these words? How about in other contexts?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-26T11:40:18.283Z
bkrs: 费电 1) v.o. consume a lot of electricity
2) n. power-consuming 耗电（Ru）electricity consumption,consumption of electric energy, consuming electricity.#52807 from which it appears that the former implies negative judgment
user6065
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-26T12:06:26.060Z
naturally 耗 consume, use up; waste, squander also can have negative connotation, but it seems with 耗电 it prevalently has a neutral meaning, cf. iciba: 一些极为节能的冰箱比传统型号耗电减少70%。晶体管式高频发生器, 加热速度快, 效率高, 耗电少
user6065
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-26T17:19:13.953Z
cf. 費力 to waste one's efforts. Otherwise 費 is simply expenditure.
John Frazer
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-27T05:11:53.447Z
費力 doesn't mean 'waste one's efforts' , '浪費氣力/ 白費氣力' does. 費力 just mean "laborious" https://tw.dictionary.search.yahoo.com/search?p=laborious
Tang Ho
<word-choice>
What is the difference between 费电 and 耗电?
# What is the difference between 费电 and 耗电?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-06-26)

In the context of phone apps, is there a difference between these words? How about in other contexts?

**Tags:** word-choice

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: bkrs: 费电 1) v.o. consume a lot of electricity 2) n. power-consuming 耗电（Ru）electricity consumption,consumption of electric energy, consuming electricity.#52807 from which it appears that the former implies negative judgment  
> **username_1**: naturally 耗 consume, use up; waste, squander also can have negative connotation, but it seems with 耗电 it prevalently has a neutral meaning, cf. iciba: 一些极为节能的冰箱比传统型号耗电减少70%。晶体管式高频发生器, 加热速度快, 效率高, 耗电少  
> **username_2**: cf. 費力 to waste one's efforts. Otherwise 費 is simply expenditure.  
> **username_3**: 費力 doesn't mean 'waste one's efforts' , '浪費氣力/ 白費氣力' does. 費力 just mean "laborious" https://tw.dictionary.search.yahoo.com/search?p=laborious  

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## 4 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2018-06-26. Score: 1

Simply, 费电 means waste the electricity, 耗电 means consume the electricity.

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: seems to confirm comments #1,2  

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### Answer by username_3 on 2018-06-27. Score: 1

费 in 费电 means "spend/ cost"

耗 in 耗电 means "consume/ use up"

**cost** $24 worth of electricity a year = 每年花(**費**)24美元的電力

**consume** 5000kw of electricity a year = 每年消(**耗**)5000千瓦的電力

*'费电' doesn't mean 'waste electricity'; '浪費電力' does*

*费 = spend*

*浪費 = wastefully spend = waste*

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Ok thanks, so if I say 这个app很费电/耗电 ... is there any difference between these two? Which way is more commonly used?  
> **username_3**: You can say 费电 focus on the  amount of  electricity that's being spent  ; 耗电 focus on the amount of electricity that is being consumed' ( sounds similar enough) . 耗电 is more common in the region I live,  

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### Answer by username_5 on 2018-06-28. Score: 0

In the context of phone apps, 这个app很费电 vs 这个app很耗电: there is a subtle difference.

这个app很费电 sounds that the App consumes more power than you think it's necessary. It can be a way of complaining.

这个app很耗电 is neutral. It sounds that the App consume lots of power, which is necessary by its nature. For example, a camera App is generally considered as more power-consuming App. You will accept its consumption because it's the common sense.

In practice, people might not really care about the nuance and sometimes they use them interchangeably.

I think that nuance applies to other contexts as well. For example, we say: 空调很耗电的, it's the common sense that AC consumes more power than other household appliances, so you wouldn't complain about it. On the other hand, 这空调很费电的 sounds like this AC consumes more power than any other ACs(consume more than it's necessary). The latter sentence can be a complaining.

Hope this would help you.


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### Answer by username_6 on 2018-06-27. Score: 0

It depends on the context you're using these words. If you say something is "费电", take it as adj., then it mainly means the device consumed a lot of electricity. Sometimes, if you take it as a verb, then it means the device is consuming (usually, a lot of) electricity. So from these, you may see "费电" is commonly derogatory. While "耗电" is just a neutral word, which is used to describe the power consumption. For example, this device "耗电" 1kw. This is a just neutral description. However, if you use an adjective word, like "很(pretty much)", before "耗电", then it also become a derogatory word which means it consumes a lot of power. So if you're try to pick a word in phone app, in most of case, I suggest "耗电". For example, tap the button of "耗电排行(Power Ranking)", to show a list of apps with their power consumption statistics.


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