發國難財

简 发国难财 · 繁 發國難財
Mandarin · pinyin fā guó nàn cái

Meanings

  1. to profiteer in a time of national calamity
Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

發
fā · issue, dispatch, send out, emit
國
Look up this written character
難
Look up this written character
財
Look up this written character
发
fā · issue, dispatch, send out; hair
国
guó · nation, country, nation-state
难
nán · difficult, arduous, hard; unable
财
cái · wealth, valuables, riches
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

1–2–4–2 · fa1 guo2 nan4 cai2

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

5character links
Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗
Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.
Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

faat3 gwok3 naan6 coi4

Cantonese word readings for 發國難財. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

verb

  1. (derogatory) to profiteer from a nationwide disaster

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack