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發國難財

简发国难财 · 繁發國難財

Mandarin · pinyin fā guó nàn cái

to profiteer in a time of national calamity

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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.

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Mandarin tones

1–2–4–2 · fa1 guo2 nan4 cai2

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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.

發國難財 · find source passages ↗ · 发国难财 · find source passages ↗

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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.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

verb

(derogatory) to profiteer from a nationwide disaster

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

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