keo cú
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Adjective:
- Stingy, miserly: Describes a person who is extremely unwilling to spend money or use resources, often to an excessive or unpleasant degree. It implies a stronger sense of meanness and tightfistedness than simply being frugal.
Usage Examples
- Adjective:
- Ông chủ đó nổi tiếng là rất keo cú với nhân viên. (That boss is famous for being very stingy with his employees.)
- Đừng có keo cú như vậy, hãy mua một món quà tử tế cho mẹ đi. (Don't be so miserly; buy a decent gift for your mother.)
- Tính keo cú của anh ta khiến không ai muốn đi ăn cùng. (His stinginess makes no one want to go out to eat with him.)
Advanced Usage
- "keo cú bẩn": An intensified phrase emphasizing extreme and contemptible stinginess.
- Hắn ta không chỉ keo cú mà còn keo cú bẩn, chẳng bao giờ chịu chia sẻ thứ gì. (He is not just stingy but dirt-cheap stingy, never willing to share anything.)
Variants and Related Words
- Keo kiệt (adj): Stingy, parsimonious. This is the most common synonym and is often used interchangeably with "keo cú," though "keo cú" can carry a slightly more negative connotation.
- Bủn xỉn (adj): Mean, stingy (colloquial).
- Hà tiện (adj): Frugal to the point of stinginess.
Synonyms
- Stingy: Unwilling to give or spend; not generous.
- Miserly: Relating to or characteristic of a miser; hoarding wealth and living in a poor way to save money.
- Tightfisted: Not willing to spend or give much money; mean.
- Parsimonious: Unwilling to spend money or use resources; stingy or frugal (more formal).
Related Idioms
- Keo như mắm tôm: As stingy as shrimp paste (a very salty, concentrated condiment). This idiom humorously compares a stingy person to something very "salty" or tight.
- Đừng mong anh ta mời bạn ăn tối, anh ta keo như mắm tôm ấy. (Don't expect him to buy you dinner; he's as stingy as shrimp paste.)
- như keo kiệt