fei1 kam4 daai6 ngaau5飛擒大咬飞擒大咬
Definition
To act with aggressive greed or eagerness, often to seize benefits or make unwanted sexual advances.
- to grab greedily; to aggressively pursue profit or benefit
- to make unwelcome, aggressive sexual advances; to grope
How it's used
Originating from the image of a predatory bird swooping down to snatch its prey, this idiom captures a sense of aggressive, unrefined, and often desperate hunger. It is frequently used to describe someone who acts with such intense, uninhibited desire that they disregard social boundaries or fairness. While it can apply to business greed, it is most commonly used to describe someone acting inappropriately forward in romantic or sexual contexts.
Examples
Related words
Common phrases
Common mistake
Do not use this to describe someone who is simply ambitious or hardworking. It carries a strong negative connotation of being predatory, lacking self-control, or being exploitative, so it is not a neutral way to describe someone pursuing a goal.
Grammar color guide
Grammar guides
- Directional complementsThe small words added after a verb to show direction of movement, like up, down, out, in, and back. Common in everyday Cantonese.
- DemonstrativesThis and that with 呢 and 嗰, the personal pronouns, and how 哋 turns I, you, and he into we, you all, and they.
- Resultative complementsSticking a result word onto a verb to show how it turned out, like eat until full or look and find. A productive everyday pattern.
