趁火打劫 (chèn huǒ dǎ jié) — to exploit a crisis for personal gain; to take unfair advantage of a difficult situation

Definition

A chengyu meaning to exploit someone's crisis for selfish gain — the focus is opportunistic exploitation of another's misfortune, not mutual benefit or hard bargaining.

idiom
to exploit a crisis for personal gainto take unfair advantage of a difficult situation

Examples

  • 趁火打劫，。
    Zhè jiā gōng sī chèn jìng zhēng duì shǒu pò chǎn shí chèn huǒ dǎ jié, dī jià shōu gòu le tā men de hé xīn jì shù.
    This company took advantage of its competitor's bankruptcy to buy up their core technology at a low price.
  • ，趁火打劫，。
    Zāi nàn fā shēng hòu, yǒu xiē shāng jiā chèn huǒ dǎ jié, bǎ shēng huó bì xū pǐn de jià gé tái gāo le hǎo jǐ bèi.
    After the disaster, some businesses exploited the crisis and raised the prices of daily necessities several times over.
  • 趁火打劫，，。
    Tā chèn péng you xiàn rù kùn jìng shí chèn huǒ dǎ jié, yǐ jí dī de lì xī jiè qián gěi duì fāng, què yāo qiú yòng fáng chǎn dǐ yā.
    He took advantage of his friend's predicament, lending money at a very low interest rate but demanding property as collateral.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

趁火take advantage of a fire
趁chèntake advantage of火huǒfire
动宾Verb + object
打劫rob
打dǎcommit劫jiérobbery
动宾Verb + object

趁火, taking advantage of a fire, sets the scene for 打劫, robbing.

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
走走zǒuto run
Sound part声符shēngfú
㐱
㐱㐱趁chèn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

趁 is built from 走, 'to run', and 㐱, which gives the sound.

Open 趁 →

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

火 is a simple drawing of a fire, with flames shown rising upward.

Open 火 →

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
扌Written in full as手shǒuhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
丁
丁dīng打dǎ
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

打 uses 扌, a hand, to show an action done with the hand, and 丁 to give the sound.

Open 打 →

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
力力lìpower, force
Sound part声符shēngfú
去
去qù劫jié
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

劫 pairs 去, which gives the sound, with 力, meaning power or force.

Open 劫 →

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