| 人为财死，鸟为食亡 |
rén wèi cái sǐ , niǎo wèi shí wáng |
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 |
| 人 |
rén |
person; people / CL:个,位 |
| 人为 |
rén wéi |
artificial / man-made / having human cause or origin / human attempt or effort |
| 为 |
wéi |
as (in the capacity of) / to take sth as / to act as / to serve as / to behave as / to become / to be / to do / by (in the passive voice) |
| 为 |
wèi |
because of / for / to |
| 为 |
wéi |
variant of 为 |
| 为 |
wèi |
variant of 为 |
| 财 |
cái |
money / wealth / riches / property / valuables |
| 死 |
sǐ |
to die / impassable / uncrossable / inflexible / rigid / extremely / damned |
| 鸟 |
diǎo |
variant of 屌 / penis |
| 鸟 |
niǎo |
bird / CL:只,群 / "bird" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 196) / (dialect) to pay attention to / (intensifier) damned / goddamn |
| 为 |
wéi |
as (in the capacity of) / to take sth as / to act as / to serve as / to behave as / to become / to be / to do / by (in the passive voice) |
| 为 |
wèi |
because of / for / to |
| 为 |
wéi |
variant of 为 |
| 为 |
wèi |
variant of 为 |
| 食 |
shí |
to eat / food / animal feed / eclipse |
| 食 |
sì |
to feed (a person or animal) |
| 亡 |
wáng |
to die / to lose / to be gone / to flee / deceased |
| 亡 |
wáng |
old variant of 亡 |