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贪吃 (tān chī) — gluttonous; voracious

Definition

贪吃 describes eating too much or craving food — specifically about overeating. Unlike 馋, which is a passing craving for a particular food, 贪吃 is a habitual pattern of eating too much; 贪婪/贪 are about greed in general (money, power), not food.

adjective
gluttonousvoracious

Examples

  • 贪吃，。
    Nǐ tài tān chī le, yào kòng zhì yí xià yǐn shí.
    You're too gluttonous; you need to control your diet a bit.
  • 贪吃。
    Zhè zhī tān chī de xiǎo gǒu zǒng shì tōu chī líng shí.
    This gluttonous little dog always sneaks snacks.
  • 贪吃，。
    Tā yīn wèi tān chī, shēn tǐ yuè lái yuè bú jiàn kāng.
    Because of gluttony, his body is getting less and less healthy.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

贪tāncovet
吃chīeating

贪 means to covet, and 吃 points to eating, so the word describes someone who covets food.

Characters in this word

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 貪; 贪 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
貝貝bèimoney
Sound part声符shēngfú
今
今jīn貪tān
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 貪 places 今 (open mouth) above 貝 (money); 今 gives the sound, and 貝 relates to the meaning. 贪 is the simplified shorthand.

Open 贪 →

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú
口口kǒumouth
Sound part声符shēngfú
乞
乞qǐ吃chī
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

吃 combines 口 (mouth) with 乞, which gives the sound; it originally wrote a word meaning to stutter.

Open 吃 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Personality & Traits

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