mercenary vs self-seeking

mercenary

adj
  • Motivated by private gain. 

noun
  • A person employed to fight in an armed conflict who is not a member of the state or military group for which they are fighting and whose primary motivation is private gain. 

  • One hired to engage in a figurative battle, as a corporate takeover, a lawsuit, or a political campaign. 

self-seeking

adj
  • Mindful of, or promoting, only one's own interests. 

  • That searches for a target automatically. 

noun
  • The selfish promotion of one's own interests. 

How often have the words mercenary and self-seeking occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )