兼得

jiāndé

verb #31,464

Meanings

1 to have both at the same time
2 to gain both

Characters

simultaneously; both

to obtain; to get

Examples

鱼和熊掌不可兼得。

Yú hé xióngzhǎng bùkě jiāndé.

You can't have both the fish and the bear's paw — you can't have it all.

工作和家庭很难兼得。

Gōngzuò hé jiātíng hěn nán jiāndé.

It's hard to balance work and family at the same time.

Tips

history

Anchored in Mencius (《孟子·告子上》): '鱼，我所欲也，熊掌，亦我所欲也，二者不可得兼' — 'Fish I desire, and bear's paw I desire too, but the two cannot be had together.' The phrase 不可兼得 has become a fixed metaphor for trade-offs.

Stroke Order

兼 jiān

得 dé