cổ chày
Definition
- Noun:
- The narrow middle part of a pestle: The constricted, thinner section between the handle (head) and the base of a traditional Vietnamese pestle (chày), used for pounding in a mortar (cối).
- (Figurative) An extremely stingy person: A metaphor for someone who is so miserly they would try to "wring water from the pestle's neck," implying an impossible level of frugality or stinginess.
Usage Examples
Noun (Literal):
- Tay cầm vào cổ chày sẽ dễ dùng lực hơn. (Holding the pestle at its narrow neck makes it easier to apply force.)
- Cái chày này bị mòn ở cổ chày. (This pestle is worn at its neck.)
Noun (Figurative):
- Ông ấy nổi tiếng là một cổ chày, chẳng bao giờ chịu chi tiền. (He is famous for being a miser, never willing to spend money.)
- Đừng có vắt cổ chày ra nước như thế! (Don't be such a penny-pincher! / Literally: Don't try to wring water from the pestle's neck!)
Advanced Usage
- "vắt cổ chày ra nước": An idiom meaning to be extremely stingy or miserly; to try to extract something (like money) from where there is none, or to be frugal to an impossible degree.
- Hành vi vắt cổ chày ra nước của anh ta khiến mọi người khó chịu. (His penny-pinching behavior annoys everyone.)
Variants and Related Words
- Chày (n): Pestle. The full tool, used with a mortar (cối).
- Cối (n): Mortar. The bowl in which items are pounded with the pestle (chày).
- Keo kiệt (adj): Stingy, miserly. A direct synonym for the figurative meaning.
- Bủn xỉn (adj): Mean, tight-fisted. Another synonym for stinginess.
Synonyms
- Kẻ bủn xỉn: A stingy person.
- Kẻ keo kiệt: A miser.
- Kẻ hà tiện: A frugal or parsimonious person (can be less negative than "keo kiệt").
Related Idioms
- "Vắt cổ chày ra nước": As explained above, the primary idiom associated with this word, emphasizing excessive stinginess.
- "Keo như cổ chày": Stingy like a pestle's neck (a variant emphasizing the simile).