财富 (cáifù) is a compound noun meaning 'wealth' or 'riches'—referring to valuable material resources such as money, property, or assets. The first character 财 (cái) means 'money' or 'financial resources', while the second character 富 (fù) means 'abundant', 'prosperous', or 'well-off'. Together, they emphasize not just money alone, but accumulated, substantial prosperity—often implying long-term security or societal status. It’s commonly used in formal, written, or abstract contexts: news reports, economic discussions, philosophical reflections, or policy documents.

Unlike colloquial terms like 钱 (qián, 'money') or 有钱 (yǒu qián, 'to be rich'), 财富 carries a broader, more dignified connotation—it can even refer metaphorically to non-material assets, such as 'cultural wealth' (文化财富) or 'human capital'. It rarely appears in casual speech and is seldom used with measure words like 个 or 些; instead, it often stands unmodified or follows quantifiers like 巨大 (jùdà, 'huge') or 丰厚 (fēnghòu, 'substantial').