Definition

1. Verb (colloquial):
   • To stint oneself in food; to eat less: To deliberately reduce one's consumption of food, typically to save money or resources.
   • To talk less; to be less talkative: To reduce how much one speaks, often implying one should stop gossiping, complaining, or speaking unnecessarily.

Usage Examples

• Verb (to eat less):
  • Gia đình ấy phải bớt miệng để lo cho con ăn học. (That family has to stint themselves on food to pay for their children's education.)
  • Bớt miệng một chút, để dành tiền mua sách. (Eat a little less, save money to buy books.)
• Verb (to talk less):
  • Cô ấy nên bớt miệng lại thì sẽ đỡ bị hiểu lầm. (She should talk less; then she would be misunderstood less.)
  • Bớt miệng đi, đừng có phàn nàn nữa! (Talk less, stop complaining!)

Advanced Usage

• The phrase often carries an advisory or slightly critical tone, suggesting a necessary or prudent reduction in consumption or speech.
• The variant "bớt mồm bớt miệng" is more emphatic and is almost exclusively used in the sense of telling someone to be quiet, shut up, or talk less, usually due to annoyance.

Variants and Related Words

• Bớt mồm bớt miệng (v, emphatic colloquial): To shut up; to stop talking (used as a strong admonition).
  • Bớt mồm bớt miệng lại đi! (Just shut up!)

Synonyms

• To stint/To economize (on food): To be frugal with food.
• To talk less/To be less talkative: To reduce one's speech.
• To pipe down/To shut up (for "bớt mồm bớt miệng"): To stop talking.

Related Idioms

• Ăn ít nói ít: (Eat little, speak little) A proverb advising moderation in consumption and speech to avoid trouble.
• Họa từ miệng mà ra: (Disaster comes from the mouth) An idiom meaning trouble often stems from careless speech, related to the advice to .

khẩu ngữ

1. To stint oneself in food, to cut down food expenditure
   • bớt miệng để dành
     to stint oneself in food and save
2. To cut down the cackle