Definition

1. Adjective:

   • Greedy: Having or showing an intense and selfish desire for wealth, possessions, or power, often beyond what one needs.
   • Avaricious: Characterized by an insatiable desire to acquire and hoard material wealth.
   • Grasping: Eager to get or keep something, especially in a selfish way.

2. Noun (less common):

   • Greed: The quality or state of being greedy; the intense and selfish desire for something.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Người đàn ông đó rất tham lam. (That man is very greedy.)
  • Con rồng trong truyện cổ tích thường được miêu tả là tham lam. (The dragon in fairy tales is often described as greedy.)
  • Đừng trở nên tham lam với đồ ăn. (Don't become greedy with the food.)

Advanced Usage

• Used to describe not just material desire but also an excessive appetite for abstract things like power, attention, or praise.
  • Một nhà lãnh đạo tham lam quyền lực. (A leader greedy for power.)

Variants and Related Words

• Lòng tham (n): Greed, avarice (the abstract noun form).

  • Lòng tham của hắn không có đáy. (His greed is bottomless.)

• Tham tiền (adj): Greedy for money.

  • Hắn ta tham tiền và không trung thực. (He is greedy for money and dishonest.)

Synonyms

• Greedy: Having an excessive desire for more than is needed.
• Avaricious: Having an extreme greed for wealth or material gain.
• Rapacious: Aggressively greedy or grasping.
• Covetous: Having a great desire to possess something belonging to someone else.

Related Idioms

• Tham lam, độc ác: Greedy and cruel (often used together to describe a character).

  • Tên địa chủ trong câu chuyện vừa tham lam vừa độc ác. (The landlord in the story was both greedy and cruel.)

• Tham thì thâm: A proverb meaning "Greed leads to loss" or "You can't have too much of a good thing." It warns that excessive greed will backfire.

  • Hãy nhớ câu "tham thì thâm". (Remember the saying "greed leads to loss.")