Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Exhausted, depleted, completely used up: Describes a state where something (resources, energy, money) has been entirely consumed or has run out.
   • Stingy, miserly: Describes a person who is extremely unwilling to spend money or use resources; parsimonious.

Usage Examples

• Adjective (Exhausted/Depleted):
  • Anh ấy đã làm việc đến kiệt sức. (He worked until he was exhausted.)
  • Cái giếng làng đã kiệt nước. (The village well has dried up/been depleted of water.)
• Adjective (Stingy):
  • Ông chủ đó nổi tiếng là rất kiệt. (That boss is famous for being very stingy.)
  • Đừng có kiệt quá với người thân. (Don't be so miserly with your relatives.)

Advanced Usage

• "Kiệt lực": To be completely exhausted of strength, to be spent.
  • Sau trận đấu, các vận động viên gần như kiệt lực. (After the match, the athletes were almost completely spent.)
• "Kiệt quệ": To be depleted, exhausted (often used for resources, finances, or energy in a severe, debilitating way).
  • Nền kinh tế kiệt quệ sau chiến tranh. (The economy was depleted after the war.)
• "Khô kiệt": To be completely dry or exhausted (often for water sources).
  • Dòng sông khô kiệt vào mùa hè. (The river runs completely dry in the summer.)

Variants and Related Words

• Kiệt cùng (adj): Utterly exhausted, at the end of one's tether.
• Bần cùng (adj): Destitute, impoverished (focuses on poverty, while focuses on the state of being used up).
• Hà tiện (adj): Stingy, parsimonious (a close synonym for the "stingy" meaning).

Synonyms

• Cạn (adj): Dried up, depleted (for liquids/resources). (The water in the bottle is gone.)
• Hết sạch (phrase): All gone, completely finished. (The money is all spent.)
• Bủn xỉn (adj): Stingy, tight-fisted (for the "stingy" meaning).

Related Phrases (Phrasal Verbs)

• Làm cho kiệt: To exhaust, to deplete completely.
  • Công việc nặng nhọc làm cho kiệt sức tôi. (The hard work exhausted me.)
• Tiêu cho kiệt: To spend until nothing is left.
  • Cậu ấy tiêu cho kiệt số tiền đó chỉ trong một tuần. (He spent until he cleaned out that amount of money in just one week.)

Related Idioms

• "Kiệt sức, kiệt lực": To be completely worn out, to have no strength left.
  • Chạy marathon xong, anh ấy kiệt sức, kiệt lực. (After finishing the marathon, he was completely worn out.)
• "Kiệt tiền, kiệt của": To be cleaned out, to have exhausted all money and possessions.
  • Cờ bạc khiến hắn kiệt tiền, kiệt của. (Gambling caused him to lose everything, to be cleaned out.)

1. Mean
   • Kiệt đến nỗi đếm từng quả cà muối
     To be so means as to count every salted egg-plant
2. Exhaust
   • Kiệt tiền
     To have exhausted one's money, to be cleaned out
   • Giếng khô kiệt
     An exhausted well