đếm chác

Thân thiện

Anh ta ngồi một góc, đếm chác từng xu lẻ trong ví.

Definition

1. Verb (derogatory):
   • To count and recount money obsessively, especially a small or insignificant amount, implying pettiness, miserliness, or an excessive focus on trivial sums.

Usage Examples

• (He keeps counting and recounting just a few dong.)
• (Don't sit there counting every single penny like that.)

Advanced Usage

• The term is inherently critical and mocking. It is used to scorn someone for being overly preoccupied with small financial gains or losses, highlighting a lack of generosity or a narrow-minded focus on money.

Word Nuances

• Connotation: The word carries a strong negative and sarcastic tone. It criticizes not just the act of counting, but the underlying attitude of stinginess or placing undue importance on a meager amount.
• Register: It is colloquial and derogatory.

Synonyms

• To nickel-and-dime: to focus on very small amounts of money.
• To pinch pennies (derogatory): to be extremely frugal in a petty way.
• To count coppers: an older idiom for counting small change obsessively.

Related Idioms

• Bủn xỉn: stingy, miserly. This is a direct synonym for the character trait implied by "đếm chác."
• Keo kiệt: parsimonious, tight-fisted. Another term describing the miserly behavior associated with the action.

Học thuật

1. (mỉa) Count and recount
   • Có mấy đồng bạc mà đếm chác mãi
     To count and recount a few dong in one's possession