📖 Meaning
To pursue nothing but profit, with complete disregard for everything else. It describes a single-minded obsession with gain where ethics, relationships, and consequences are all ignored.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from the Tongdian (通典), a Tang Dynasty encyclopedia of statecraft compiled by Du You. In the 'Food and Goods' section, Su Xiaoci, the Minister of Works during the Sui Dynasty, submitted a memorial criticizing local government offices. He accused them of using public funds to engage in usury and commercial lending, pursuing profit above all else and causing great distress to the common people. The phrase captured the essence of official corruption driven by unchecked greed.
💡 Example Usage
那些惟利是求的商人最终失去了所有客户的信任。
Those merchants who sought nothing but profit ultimately lost the trust of all their customers.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 惟利是求
- Pinyin: wéi lì shì qiú
- Literal Translation: only, profit, (object marker), seek
- Category: Attitude
- Characters: 4