汲汲營營

汲汲營營

1. to be continuously busy pursuing fame and fortune

   • 方其用心與力之勞，亦何異衆人之汲汲營營而忽焉以死者？雖有遲有速，而卒與三者同歸於泯滅，夫言之不可恃也蓋如此。 [Literary Chinese, trad.]
     方其用心与力之劳，亦何异众人之汲汲营营而忽焉以死者？虽有迟有速，而卒与三者同归于泯灭，夫言之不可恃也盖如此。 [Literary Chinese, simp.]

     From: 1054, Ouyang Xiu,《送徐無黨南歸序》, translated by Stephen Owen

     Fāng qí yòngxīn yǔ lì zhī láo, yì hé yì zhòngrén zhī jíjíyíngyíng ér hūyān yǐ sǐ zhě? Suī yǒu chí yǒu sù, ér zú yǔ sān zhě tóngguī yú mǐnmiè, fú yán zhī bùkě shì yě gài rúcǐ. [Pinyin]

     The great efforts that they expended in the employment of mind and energy—how does that differ from the scrambling and hustling of the masses of men? All of a sudden they were dead. And though it sometimes came sooner and sometimes later, they finally joined the other three—plants and trees, birds and beasts, and the masses of men—in returning to oblivion. Such is the untrustworthiness of words.

2. (Taiwan, Internet slang, neologism) alternative form of 雞雞硬硬 / 鸡鸡硬硬 (jījī yìng yìng, “having a boner”)

• “汲汲營營”, in 重編國語辭典修訂本 [Revised Mandarin Chinese Dictionary] (in Chinese), National Academy for Educational Research (Taiwan), 2021.