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貪人之有者殘 is a phrase from 素書. I am not able to understand the grammatical structure of this sentence.

For instance:

  • 貪: does it mean greedy or make s.o. greedy, or consider s.o. greedy , or greed (noun)

  • 貪人: is it just "greedy person" or is 人 not immediately connected with 貪

  • 之: is it here an object pronoun or genitive-particle or the word "go"
  • 有: does it mean "have" or "exist" or "come into existence"
  • 者: is this the particle that makes the whole part infront of it a noun-phrase ?
  • 殘: is it "to injure" or an adjective "being in state of being injured" ?

Could you explain to me the grammatical structure of this sentence and its meaning in English ?

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The structure is <贪[人之有]者> <残>. "贪 人之有 者" can be translated as "he who is lust for other people's possessions". But I am sorry I don't know the exact meaning of 残 here. Maybe it means "harm", "impair" or "to be bad".

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  • that is perfect for me , thx – Abdul Al Hazred Oct 14 '15 at 17:38
  • "人" in "人之有" means "not oneself (only)"; it can refer to "other people" or even "the whole society". – Henry HO Oct 15 '15 at 2:08
  • iciba：貪人之有者殘 The remnant of a corrupt man。殘 1. （形）不完整；残缺：这部书很好；可惜～了。(what is left of one who coveted what others have) – user6065 Mar 12 '16 at 22:48

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