DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT
人為財死,鳥為食亡
简 人为财死,鸟为食亡 · 繁 人為財死,鳥為食亡Mandarin · pinyin rén wèi cái sǐ , niǎo wèi shí wáng
Meanings
- lit. human beings will die for riches, just as birds will for food (idiom)
- fig. man will do anything in his means to become rich
Characters in this entry
- 人
- rén · man; people; mankind; someone else
- 為
- Look up this written character
- 財
- Look up this written character
- 死
- sǐ · die; dead; death
- 鳥
- niǎo · bird; Kangxi radical 196
- 食
- shí · eat; meal; food; Kangxi radical 184
- 亡
- wáng · death, destroyed; lose, perish
- 为
- wèi · do, handle, govern, act; be
- 财
- cái · wealth, valuables, riches
- 鸟
- niǎo · bird; Kangxi radical 196
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Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.Read this spelling in Classical texts
Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.
人為財死,鳥為食亡 · find source passages ↗ · 人为财死,鸟为食亡 · find source passages ↗