垂涎欲滴

chuí xián yù dī

mouth-watering; (of things or gain) to covet

Character by character

垂chuí
hang

涎xián
saliva

欲yù
about to

滴dī
drip

烤鸭一端上来，客人们个个垂涎欲滴。

The moment the roast duck was brought in, every guest’s mouth was watering.

Tone: neutral.

涎 is saliva. Of food it is playful; 对别人的财产垂涎欲滴 means to covet, and is 贬. A stronger variant is 垂涎三尺.

Learn this in Lesson 218 · HSK 9+: 文人写吃 (Writers at the table)

A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. The first lessons of every level are free.