What's the difference between 浪费 and 白费？

Question

I have only used 浪费 to express waste (time, effort, energy, etc) but recently have come across 白费. It seems to be more a waste on intangible items, but I am having trouble differentiating the two.

Answer 1

The crux is in the 白.

浪费 is similar to squander.

Here’s a good example from Oxford:

浪费自然资源

squander natural resources

To understand 白 I think it’s best to look at 白白 check out A Chinese-English Dictionary’s definition:

in vain; to no purpose; for nothing

here are two sample sentences they give:

白白丢掉一次机会

báibái diūdiào yīcì jīhuì

let a chance slip through one’s fingers; miss an opportunity

不要让时光白白过去。

Bùyào ràng shíguāng báibái guòqu.

Don’t let time slip aimlessly by.

So here we’ve got words like slip, miss, aimlessly and that is really what 白费 is made up of: slip/miss and squander - giving us: to do something in vain, to do something to no avail.

Here are two more examples from AC-ED:

白费力气

báifèi lìqi

waste of energy; all for nothing; plough the sand

白费心思

báifèi xīnsi

bother one’s head for nothing

Answer 2

白费： you made a lot of efforts but those efforts hadn't take any effect. For example, you have done a lot of work for a project, but in the end the project is cancelled. Those work you have done is 白费了 and no one would use it.

浪费: like the word squander or waste, it conveys that you spend more (time, money, resource, etc) than it's necessary, but those resources might not be fully in vain. For example, you spend 20000 just to buy a small bag, which most of people would think it does not deserve. This is a type of 浪费. Another example is that you spend one hour just to write one word! That's kind of 浪费时间.

Answer 3

浪费: wasteful 白费：wasted (money, resources, effort etc); (all) for nothing;