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忌妒 (jì du) — to be jealous of; to envy

Definition

忌妒 (jìdu) means 'to envy / be jealous,' with a stronger edge of resentment than 羡慕, which is more about admiring what others have. It is essentially a written/literary variant of 嫉妒; choose 嫉妒 in everyday prose.

verb
to be jealous ofto envy

Examples

  • 忌妒。
    Tā zǒng róng yì jì du bié rén qǔ dé de chéng jì.
    He is always easily jealous of the achievements others have made.
  • ，忌妒。
    Kàn dào péng you de xīn chē, wǒ bù jīn yǒu xiē jì du.
    Seeing my friend's new car, I couldn't help feeling a little jealous.
  • 忌妒。
    Tā men de xìng fú shēng huó ràng rén jì du.
    Their happy life makes people envious.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

忌jìenvy
妒dùjealous

忌 and 妒 are synonyms meaning envy, so 忌妒 means jealous.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
心心xīnheart
Sound part声符shēngfú
己
己jǐ忌jì
Same sound today

忌 combines 己, which gives the sound, with 心, the heart, as the part connected to the meaning.

Open 忌 →

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
女女nǚwoman
Sound part声符shēngfú
戶
戶hù妒
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In 妒, the left part 女 shows the idea of a woman, while the right part 戶 supplies the sound.

Open 妒 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Emotions & Feelings

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.