貪字得個貧

Chinese

		greedy	letter; symbol; character letter; symbol; character; word	to get; to obtain; to only have to get; to obtain; to only have; to just have	(classifier)	poor
trad. (貪字得個貧)		貪	字	得	個	貧
simp. (贪字得个贫)		贪	字	得	个	贫
Literally: “with the word 'greed', there is only 'poverty'”.

Etymology

From the graphical similarity between 貪 (“to be greedy; greed”) and 貧 (“to be poor; poverty”).

Pronunciation

• Cantonese (Jyutping): taam¹ zi⁶ dak¹ go³ pan⁴

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• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: taam¹ zi⁶ dak¹ go³ pan⁴
    • Yale: tāam jih dāk go pàhn
    • Cantonese Pinyin: taam¹ dzi⁶ dak⁷ go³ pan⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: tam¹ ji⁶ deg¹ go³ pen⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰaːm⁵⁵ t͡siː²² tɐk̚⁵ kɔː³³ pʰɐn²¹/

Proverb

貪字得個貧

1. (Cantonese) Do not be greedy or you will suffer losses; grasp all, lose all

Synonyms

• (Hokkien) 貪字貧字殼／贪字贫字壳