囤积居奇

囤積居奇

túnjī-jūqí

idiom #54,437

Meanings

1 to hoard goods and speculate
2 to stockpile scarce items to drive up prices
3 to profiteer through hoarding

Characters

to store; to hoard

to hold; to occupy

rare; scarce goods

Examples

HSK 5

政府严厉打击囤积居奇的行为。

Zhèngfǔ yánlì dǎjī túnjī-jūqí de xíngwéi.

The government is cracking down hard on price-gouging hoarders.

HSK 7-9

疫情期间有些商人囤积居奇，哄抬物价。

Yìqíng qījiān yǒuxiē shāngrén túnjī-jūqí, hōngtái wùjià.

During the pandemic some merchants hoarded scarce goods to inflate prices.

HSK 7-9

他囤积居奇，结果货物贬值，亏得一塌糊涂。

Tā túnjī-jūqí, jiéguǒ huòwù biǎnzhí, kuī de yītāhútú.

He hoarded goods to speculate, but prices dropped and he took a disastrous loss.

Tips

usage

Strongly negative - implies exploiting shortages to gouge prices. Typical subjects: 商人, 不法商贩, 投机商. Common collocation: 囤积居奇，哄抬物价 (hoard and inflate prices).

memory

囤积 = to pile up stock, 居奇 = to sit on something rare (奇 here means "rare goods"). The hoarder 囤 + 积 + 居 + 奇: piles, stores, sits on, the rare stuff.

Stroke Order

囤 tún

积 jī

居 jū

奇 qí