贪得无厌 (tān dé wú yàn) — greedy and insatiable; never satisfied no matte…

Definition

A chengyu describing someone who craves more no matter how much they have — greedier than 想 or 想要, which are neutral verbs of wanting. Strongly negative, used for people (and their nature) whose desires are endless.

verb

greedy and insatiablenever satisfied no matter how much one gets

Examples

贪得无厌，。
Zhè ge lǎo bǎn tān dé wú yàn, zǒng shì xiǎng zhuàn gèng duō de qián.
This boss is insatiably greedy, always wanting to make more money.
贪得无厌。
Tā tān dé wú yàn de xìng gé ràng shēn biān de rén dōu lí tā ér qù.
His insatiably greedy personality drove everyone around him away.
贪得无厌，。
Yí gè guó jiā rú guǒ lǐng dǎo rén tān dé wú yàn, zuì zhōng huì shī qù mín xīn.
If a country's leaders are insatiably greedy, they will eventually lose the people's support.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

联合liánhéCoordinate

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

贪得greedy for gain

贪tāngreedily want得dégain

动宾Verb + object

无厌without satisfaction

无wúnot have厌yànsatisfaction

动宾Verb + object

贪得 describes greedy acquisition, while 无厌 says satisfaction never comes.

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.

今貝貪

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 →

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

The old form 㝵 showed a hand picking up a cowry, meaning to obtain; later changes turned that picture into 得.

Open 得 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 無; 无 is its simplified writing.

For the simplified 无, the story is about 無. 無 drew a person dancing with ox tails held in both hands to pray for rain, then was borrowed for 'have no', so the picture does not explain that meaning.

Open 无 →

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 厭; 厌 is its simplified writing.

厂猒厭

Meaning part形符xíngfú

厂厂chǎng

Sound part声符shēngfú

猒

猒yàn厭yàn

Same sound today

The traditional form 厭 combines 厂 as the meaning part with 猒 as the sound part; the simplified 厌 is a later abbreviation.

Open 厌 →