貪心 / 贪心
taam¹ sam¹
The Cantonese word for greedy is 貪心 / 贪心 (taam¹ sam¹).
The term 貪心 / 贪心 describes someone who is consumed by selfish desires. It can be used to describe both a person's character and a specific action, such as being greedy for power or money.
Meaning: having greed, consumed by selfish desires (adj)
What does it mean word for word?
The word is composed of 貪 (taam1), meaning 'to covet or desire' and 心 (sam1), meaning 'heart or mind'.
How does it change in a sentence?
To express degree, you can add 好 (hou2), meaning 'very', before the adjective to say 好貪心, which means 'very greedy'.
How do you pronounce it?
taam¹ sam¹
When do people say it?
In Hong Kong Cantonese, the term 貪吃鬼 is used to describe someone who is a greedy eater.
Did you know?
- While 貪心 is generally negative, the phrase 貪靚 describes someone who is 'greedy for beauty' or overly concerned with appearances, often used playfully when someone spends too much time getting ready.
- In some contexts, the root 貪 can be used to describe a strong passion or obsession, such as 貪書 for someone who is 'greedy' for books and reads incessantly.
- A person who is excessively greedy for food might be called a 貪吃鬼, where the character 鬼 literally means 'ghost' or 'demon' but here serves as a playful suffix for a person with a specific habit.
Examples in context
- 他非常貪心He is very greedy.
- 佢好貪婪He/She is very greedy.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “greedy” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
