利欲熏心 (lì yù xūn xīn) — blinded by greed | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A chengyu describing someone so consumed by desire for money or power that they lose moral judgment. Always negative — it condemns the person's corruption, not the greed itself.

idiom

blinded by greed

Examples

，利欲熏心。
Tā wèi le zhuàn qián bù zé shǒu duàn, zhēn shì lì yù xūn xīn.
He stops at nothing to make money — truly blinded by greed.
利欲熏心。
Nà xiē lì yù xūn xīn de shāng rén zuì zhōng dōu méi yǒu hǎo xià chǎng.
Those merchants blinded by greed ultimately came to no good end.
，利欲熏心，。
Zài lì yì miàn qián, tā lì yù xūn xīn, wàng jì le zuò rén de yuán zé.
In the face of profit, he was blinded by greed and forgot his principles.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

主谓zhǔwèiSubject + predicate

A small sentence frozen into a word: something, and what it does or is.

利欲greed for profit

利lìprofit欲yùdesire

联合Side by side

熏心inflame the heart

熏xūnsmoke心xīnheart

动宾Verb + object

'利欲' of profit and desire '熏' the heart, so greed blinds a person.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

禾禾hégrain
刀刀dāoknife

利 combines 禾 (grain) and 刀 (knife), showing a knife used to cut grain.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

谷欠欲

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

谷

谷gǔ欲yù

Same sound today

欲 is made of 谷, which supplies the sound, and 欠, which relates to the meaning.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 燻; 熏 is its simplified writing.

火熏燻

Meaning part形符xíngfú

火火huǒfire

Sound part声符shēngfú

熏

熏xūn燻xūn

Same sound today

In the traditional form 燻, 火 marks fire or smoke, and 熏 gives the sound; the modern 熏 is a shorter form.

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 心 comes from a drawing of a heart, now highly stylized.

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