贪婪
tān lán · HSK 7
greedy
🤑 贪 = 今 (now) + 贝 (money) — wanting the money right now; 婪 doubles down on greed
Both 贪 and 婪 mean greed, so 贪婪 is greed stacked twice for emphasis. The 贝 (cowrie shell, old Chinese money) inside 贪 anchors the sense of grasping for wealth.
贪 — 今 (jīn, phonetic) + 貝 (shell/money)
贪 is a phono-semantic compound. The bottom 貝 (shell) signals meaning, since cowrie shells were ancient money, hinting at greed for wealth. The top 今 supplies the sound. The character originally meant coveting riches and broadened to mean greedy or craving in general.