<p>贪得无厌 is more idiomatic (preferable in a more literary writing style). 永不满足 is more straight forward (preferable in a sci-fi story narrative)</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>Drifters of this world are the collectors of forgotten knowledge, lost technologies and broken histories. Our Drifter is haunted by an insatiable illness, traveling further into the lands of Buried Time, hoping to discover a way to quiet the vicious disease.</em></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><em>这个世界的流浪者寻找被遗忘的知能，丢失的科技，和破坏的历史。被贪得无厌的疾病困扰的流浪者不得不深入埋葬时间之地，但愿能从这个残忍的疾病找到平安。</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Suggestions:</p>
<p>forgotten knowledge  --&gt; 遗忘了的知识</p>
<p>lost technologies --&gt; 失落了的科技</p>
<p>broken histories --&gt; 残破的历史</p>
<p>vicious disease --&gt; 狠毒的疾病</p>
<p>被贪得无厌的疾病困扰 sounds like the illness are the greedy one that does the troubling. It should be 被贪得无厌这疾病困扰. (are troubled by the disease of insatiable greed)</p>
<p>从这个残忍的疾病找到平安 means 'to find peace from this cruel disease', 'to quiet the vicious disease' should be translated as 让那狠毒的疾病平静下来</p>
<p>My Translation:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>这个世界的流浪者是遗忘了的知识，失落了的科技，和残破历史的收集者。</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>被永不满足这疾病困扰的流浪者不得不深入埋葬时间之地，希望能让这狠毒的疾病安静下来</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>Edit:</strong></p>
<p>Illness here is a metaphor for 'bad habit'  and 'insatiable' here doesn't imply 'greedy' but 'insatiable desire'. The desire of satisfying curiosity and the urge for adventure. I suggest 永不满足 over 贪得无厌</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-04T22:09:47.557Z
So many things to work on, thank you again for pointing them out! I am confused about 被贪得无厌这疾病困扰, does it mean that the person is troubled by greed, and greed is the disease? What I was trying to say was that the person was troubled by a disease, and the disease was relentless (implying that it was bound to kill him eventually)
furrygecko
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-04T22:16:36.283Z
@furrygecko Please see my edition at the bottom
Tang Ho
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-04T22:22:49.410Z
Ohhh, so the context of this passage is that this character is suffering from an actual disease, as there are several chapters where he starts to cough up blood. It's never explicitly named, but it is something similar to cancer. "Quiet" is a metaphor, but he's seeking a cure. In this case, would 永不满足的疾病 be more accurate?
furrygecko
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-04T22:32:04.903Z
@furrygecko 永不满足 is a mentality, not an actual disease. The term 永不满足这疾病(the disease of insatiable)  is a metaphor. The character has an actual unnamed disease but it didn't stop him from adventuring because the desire is stronger than his sense of self-preservation. If the goal of his adventure is to quite (cure) an actual disease, then it would not be a  永不满足的疾病 (insatiable  disease) but a 不治之症 (incurable disease)
Tang Ho
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-04T22:40:45.623Z
I think I get it now. Metaphors are hard!
furrygecko
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-04T21:38:14.503Z
2021-01-04T22:15:40.777Z
2021-01-04T22:15:40.777Z
Tang Ho
<p>贪得无厌 -and/or- 贪得无餍 can be found in almost any dictionary.</p>
<p><em>ABC</em> defines it as:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>be insatiably greedy</p>
</blockquote>
<p><em>Oxford</em> defines it as:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>have an insatiable greed</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So we can kind of see where Google Translate's <em>insatiable</em> came from.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?page=worddict&amp;wdrst=0&amp;wdqtm=0&amp;wdqcham=1&amp;wdqt=%E8%B4%AA%E5%BE%97%E6%97%A0%E5%8E%8C" rel="nofollow noreferrer">MDBG</a> has a rather unique translation too that you can consider:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>avaricious and insatiable (idiom); greedy and never satisfied</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E8%B2%AA%E5%BE%97%E7%84%A1%E5%8E%AD" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Wiktionary</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>(idiomatic) greedy, avaricious</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I'm not sure where your Chinese excerpt came from but it's not written particularly well to begin with.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-04T20:18:45.427Z
In that case, can I separate the phrase and use 无厌 by itself? For example, 无厌的疾病

And I wrote the Chinese excerpt - how could I make it better?
furrygecko
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-04T20:52:33.290Z
Oh I just realized it's unclear that I am trying to translate from English to Chinese, sorry
furrygecko
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-04T20:10:01.760Z
2021-01-04T20:10:01.760Z
Mou某
<p>This is the original text:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Drifters of this world are the collectors of forgotten knowledge, lost
technologies and broken histories. Our Drifter is haunted by an
insatiable illness, traveling further into the lands of Buried Time,
hoping to discover a way to quiet the vicious disease.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is my translation, and I am unsure about the second sentence:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>这个世界的流浪者寻找被遗忘的知能，丢失的科技，和破坏的历史。被<strong>贪得无厌</strong>的疾病困扰的流浪者不得不深入埋葬时间之地，但愿能从这个残忍的疾病找到平安。</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I looked up &quot;insatiable&quot; on google translate and it gave me &quot;永不满足&quot;, which I think means &quot;impossible to satisfy&quot; but I'm not sure if it fits. Based on my knowledge it sounds like something specific to eating food.</p>
<p>After digging around for some synonyms, I stumbled upon &quot;贪得无厌&quot; which google translate also says means &quot;insatiable&quot;, which seems closer to &quot;relentless greed&quot;, but I'm also not sure if this is the best choice.</p>

<usage>
Is "贪得无厌" the best choice for this sentence?
# Is "贪得无厌" the best choice for this sentence?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-01-04)

This is the original text:

> Drifters of this world are the collectors of forgotten knowledge, lost
> technologies and broken histories. Our Drifter is haunted by an
> insatiable illness, traveling further into the lands of Buried Time,
> hoping to discover a way to quiet the vicious disease.

This is my translation, and I am unsure about the second sentence:

> 这个世界的流浪者寻找被遗忘的知能，丢失的科技，和破坏的历史。被**贪得无厌**的疾病困扰的流浪者不得不深入埋葬时间之地，但愿能从这个残忍的疾病找到平安。

I looked up "insatiable" on google translate and it gave me "永不满足", which I think means "impossible to satisfy" but I'm not sure if it fits. Based on my knowledge it sounds like something specific to eating food.

After digging around for some synonyms, I stumbled upon "贪得无厌" which google translate also says means "insatiable", which seems closer to "relentless greed", but I'm also not sure if this is the best choice.

**Tags:** usage


---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2021-01-04. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

贪得无厌 is more idiomatic (preferable in a more literary writing style). 永不满足 is more straight forward (preferable in a sci-fi story narrative)

> *Drifters of this world are the collectors of forgotten knowledge, lost technologies and broken histories. Our Drifter is haunted by an insatiable illness, traveling further into the lands of Buried Time, hoping to discover a way to quiet the vicious disease.*

> *这个世界的流浪者寻找被遗忘的知能，丢失的科技，和破坏的历史。被贪得无厌的疾病困扰的流浪者不得不深入埋葬时间之地，但愿能从这个残忍的疾病找到平安。*

Suggestions:

forgotten knowledge --> 遗忘了的知识

lost technologies --> 失落了的科技

broken histories --> 残破的历史

vicious disease --> 狠毒的疾病

被贪得无厌的疾病困扰 sounds like the illness are the greedy one that does the troubling. It should be 被贪得无厌这疾病困扰. (are troubled by the disease of insatiable greed)

从这个残忍的疾病找到平安 means 'to find peace from this cruel disease', 'to quiet the vicious disease' should be translated as 让那狠毒的疾病平静下来

My Translation:

> 这个世界的流浪者是遗忘了的知识，失落了的科技，和残破历史的收集者。

> 被永不满足这疾病困扰的流浪者不得不深入埋葬时间之地，希望能让这狠毒的疾病安静下来

**Edit:**

Illness here is a metaphor for 'bad habit' and 'insatiable' here doesn't imply 'greedy' but 'insatiable desire'. The desire of satisfying curiosity and the urge for adventure. I suggest 永不满足 over 贪得无厌

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: So many things to work on, thank you again for pointing them out! I am confused about 被贪得无厌这疾病困扰, does it mean that the person is troubled by greed, and greed is the disease? What I was trying to say was that the person was troubled by a disease, and the disease was relentless (implying that it was bound to kill him eventually)  
> **username_1**: @username_0 Please see my edition at the bottom  
> **username_0**: Ohhh, so the context of this passage is that this character is suffering from an actual disease, as there are several chapters where he starts to cough up blood. It's never explicitly named, but it is something similar to cancer. "Quiet" is a metaphor, but he's seeking a cure. In this case, would 永不满足的疾病 be more accurate?  
> **username_1**: @username_0 永不满足 is a mentality, not an actual disease. The term 永不满足这疾病(the disease of insatiable)  is a metaphor. The character has an actual unnamed disease but it didn't stop him from adventuring because the desire is stronger than his sense of self-preservation. If the goal of his adventure is to quite (cure) an actual disease, then it would not be a  永不满足的疾病 (insatiable  disease) but a 不治之症 (incurable disease)  
> **username_0**: I think I get it now. Metaphors are hard!  

---

### Answer by username_2 on 2021-01-04. Score: 1

贪得无厌 -and/or- 贪得无餍 can be found in almost any dictionary.

*ABC* defines it as:

> be insatiably greedy

*Oxford* defines it as:

> have an insatiable greed

So we can kind of see where Google Translate's *insatiable* came from.

[MDBG](https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?page=worddict&wdrst=0&wdqtm=0&wdqcham=1&wdqt=%E8%B4%AA%E5%BE%97%E6%97%A0%E5%8E%8C) has a rather unique translation too that you can consider:

> avaricious and insatiable (idiom); greedy and never satisfied

[Wiktionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E8%B2%AA%E5%BE%97%E7%84%A1%E5%8E%AD)

> (idiomatic) greedy, avaricious

I'm not sure where your Chinese excerpt came from but it's not written particularly well to begin with.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: In that case, can I separate the phrase and use 无厌 by itself? For example, 无厌的疾病  And I wrote the Chinese excerpt - how could I make it better?  
> **username_0**: Oh I just realized it's unclear that I am trying to translate from English to Chinese, sorry  

---

