Definition

1. Noun:
   • Pestle: A tool used for pounding or grinding, typically made from a piece of wood or a heavy, solid block of material. It is used with a mortar (cối).
   • Bell-stick; Clapper: A stick or hammer used to strike a bell to make it ring.

Usage Examples

• Noun (Pestle):

  • Chày và cối là dụng cụ nhà bếp truyền thống. (The pestle and mortar are traditional kitchen tools.)
  • Bà tôi dùng chày để giã gạo nếp. (My grandmother uses a pestle to pound glutinous rice.)

• Noun (Bell-stick):

  • Nhà sư dùng chày để đánh chuông chùa. (The monk uses a bell-stick to strike the temple bell.)
  • Tiếng chày đánh chuông vang lên lúc hoàng hôn. (The sound of the bell being struck with the clapper rang out at dusk.)

Advanced Usage

• "vắt cổ chày ra nước": An idiom meaning to be extremely stingy or miserly, to try to squeeze water out of a (dry) pestle. It describes someone who is parsimonious to an extreme degree.
  • Ông chủ đó nổi tiếng là keo kiệt, có thể vắt cổ chày ra nước. (That boss is famously stingy; he could squeeze water from a pestle.)

Variants and Related Words

• Cá chày: A type of fish (Redbelly yellowtail fusilier). Note: This is a compound noun where "chày" is part of the fish's name, not directly related to the tool.
• Chày cối: (Pestle and mortar) The complete set of tools for pounding.
• Chày giã: A pounding pestle (specifying its function).

Synonyms

• Cái giã: Pounder (less common).
• Dùi chuông: Bell striker/clapper (specifically for the bell-stick meaning).

Related Idioms

• "vắt cổ chày ra nước": As explained above, to be a skinflint, to be extremely tight-fisted.

noun

1. xem cá chày
2. Pestle
   • chày giã gạo
     a rice-pounding pestle
3. Bell-stick
   • vắt cổ chày ra nước
     to be a skinflint