Chinese word

嫉妒

Pronunciation

Pinyinjí dù

Meaning

  • verbenvy

Example

不要嫉妒别人的成功。bú yào jí dù bié rén de chéng gōng

Do not envy other people's success.

Illustration for 嫉妒 (envy)

More examples

她在社交媒体上看到朋友的幸福生活，就会暗暗嫉妒。tā zài shè jiāo méi tǐ shàng kàn dào péng yǒu de xìng fú shēng huó jiù huì àn àn jí dù

When she sees her friend's happy life on social media, she secretly envies it.

Core concept

Seeing someone else's success, position, or affection as a loss to oneself, with a wish to push it away.

Common phrases

  • 嫉妒别人的成功jí dù bié rén de chéng gōng

    be jealous of other people's success

  • 嫉妒别人的才华jí dù bié rén de cái huá

    be jealous of other people's talent

Similar words

妒忌dù jì: To envy another person's success or happiness and hope that they will have problems.
羡慕xiàn mù: To feel envious of another person's good qualities, skills, or possessions and wish to have them too.
吃醋chī cù: To feel insecure and envious when a romantic partner is close to someone else.

Definition in Chinese

对别人拥有的长处、地位或感情感到不甘或妒忌，并可能产生排斥、怨恨的心理反应。duì bié rén yōng yǒu de cháng chù dì wèi huò gǎn qíng gǎn dào bù gān huò dù jì bìng kě néng chǎn shēng pái chì yuàn hèn de xīn lǐ fǎn yìng

Word origin

Both 嫉 (jí, "to envy") and 妒 (dù, "to envy") independently express envy, and their combination creates a compact word for a strong resentful feeling toward another person's gain.

Usage tips

  • The verb takes its target directly, so the person, success, or relationship that triggers the feeling follows it without a preposition, unlike the English pattern "be jealous of."

Other meanings

  • be jealous ofverb
  • jealousynoun

Opposites

Related words

  • 嫉妒心jí dù xīnjealousynoun
  • 嫉妒者jí dù zhějealous personnoun

Word lists with this word