ENESFRDE中文

Characters, words, pinyin or English

馋 chán greedy

greedy; gluttonous; to have a craving

How to remember 馋: 饣 food + 免 avoid + ⺀ ice = greedy. The boy grabs food from every plate, tries to avoid mum's eyes and crunches the ice from every drink, the most greedy kid there.

  • HSK 9
  • 12 strokes
  • Radical 饣

Component breakdown

馋 = 饣 food + 𫥎

  • 饣 food
  • 𫥎
    • 免 avoid
      • ⺈ bow
      • 口 mouth
      • 丿 falling stroke
      • 乚 hook
    • ⺀ ice
The Gushi story

The boy grabs food from every plate, tries to avoid mum's eyes and crunches the ice from every drink, the most greedy kid there.

How it is used

  • Means craving food / drooling over food, not general greed - 看着照片就馋了 (kànzhe zhàopiàn jiù chán le) just seeing the photo makes my mouth water.
  • Distinguish from 贪 (tān, greedy for money/gain): 馋 is specifically about appetite and tasty things. A 馋嘴 (chánzuǐ) person can't resist snacks; 嘴馋 (zuǐchán) = having a sweet tooth / always wanting to nibble.
  • Warm, playful spoken word, often used of kids and oneself.