Definition

1. Verb:

   • To clear up / to tidy away: To pick up scattered items and put them away neatly, often to organize a space.
   • To gather / to collect: To accumulate bits and pieces of something, often in a casual, unsystematic, or thorough manner.

2. Verb (extended usage):

   • To scrape together / to scrounge: To collect or accumulate something (often money or resources) from various small sources, sometimes implying a degree of desperation or thrift.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Nhặt nhạnh hết dụng cụ vào. (Clear up all the tools.)
  • Nhặt nhạnh tin tức. (Gather information.)
  • Cô ấy nhặt nhạnh đồ chơi cho con. (She tidied away the toys for her child.)

Advanced Usage

• The verb often implies a repetitive or meticulous action of picking up many small, separate items.
• It can carry a slightly negative connotation when referring to gathering information or resources, suggesting the information is fragmented or gathered from dubious sources, or that the act of collecting is done out of necessity.

Variants and Related Words

• Nhặt (v): To pick up (a single item or generally). It is the root verb and is more general.

  • Nhặt một đồng xu trên đường. (Pick up a coin on the street.)

• Lượm lặt (v): To glean; to gather bit by bit. Very similar in meaning to "nhặt nhạnh" but can sound slightly more literary.

Synonyms

• Clear up: To make tidy.
• Gather: To bring together.
• Scrape together: To collect with difficulty.
• Collect: To bring items together.

Related Idioms

• While "nhặt nhạnh" itself is not typically part of a fixed idiom, its meaning is central to phrases describing frugality or meticulous collection, such as the concept of "nhặt nhạnh từng đồng" (to scrounge every last penny).

1. Clear up, clear away
   • Nhặt nhạnh hết dụng cụ vào
     To clear up all the tools.
   • Nhặt nhạnh tin tức
     To gather information