New Members Nicole B Posted May 14, 2018 at 11:17 PM New Members Report Share Posted May 14, 2018 at 11:17 PM Had this tattoo for a while and honestly forgot the meaning. Can anyone help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyJonesLocker Posted May 15, 2018 at 05:58 AM Report Share Posted May 15, 2018 at 05:58 AM 患得患失 (huàndé huànshī ) Means to worry about personal gains and losses, I.e to focus too much on gaining or losing in life 患 = Worry 得 = To gain , acquire 失 = To lose (opposite to 得) I'm not too familiar with this so others will have better explanation and better context 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edelweis Posted May 15, 2018 at 06:10 AM Report Share Posted May 15, 2018 at 06:10 AM http://www.purplepanda.com.au/Idiom/患得患失.aspx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomsima Posted May 15, 2018 at 05:03 PM Report Share Posted May 15, 2018 at 05:03 PM worried you won't be able to get something, then when you do get it, you worry that you will lose what you have gained. A more modern meaning is to be overcautious in decision making, constantly worrying and weighing up the pros and cons. The phrase originates from Confucius' the Analects. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomsima Posted May 17, 2018 at 07:55 AM Report Share Posted May 17, 2018 at 07:55 AM For those interested, after discussing this chengyu yesterday, I happened to bump into it in the wild today during my reading, which gives some good context on how it should be understood in modern Mandarin. It appears in a list of negative mental states in which a person will not be able to write calligraphy well, and here appears to carry the meaning of 'mentally uncertain and thus indecisive' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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