Definition

1. Idiom (Thành ngữ):
   • To be stingy; to be overly frugal: The primary meaning refers to a strong reluctance to spend money or use resources, often to an excessive or unreasonable degree. It describes a mindset of hoarding and an exaggerated fear of loss.
   • To regret the loss/waste of possessions: It can also express a feeling of regret or心痛 over something lost, spent, or damaged, emphasizing the material value.

Usage Examples

• Idiom:
  • Ông ấy tiếc của đến mức không dám bật điều hòa. (He is so stingy that he doesn't dare turn on the air conditioner.)
  • Đừng tiếc của, hãy mua thuốc tốt cho bố. (Don't be stingy; buy good medicine for your father.)
  • Bà ấy tiếc của chiếc bình vỡ. (She regretted the loss of the broken vase.)

Advanced Usage

• The idiom often carries a critical or disapproving tone, implying that the person's frugality is detrimental to health, happiness, or social norms.
• It can be used in a self-deprecating way: (I am also very stingy.)

Variants and Related Words

• Hà tiện (adj): miserly, stingy. A direct synonym for the character trait.
  • Tính anh ta rất hà tiện. (He has a very miserly character.)
• Keo kiệt (adj): parsimonious, tight-fisted. Another strong synonym.
  • Người keo kiệt thường tiếc của. (A parsimonious person is often stingy.)

Synonyms

• Stingy: unwilling to give or spend.
• Miserly: characterized by a obsessive desire to hoard wealth.
• Penny-pinching: excessively careful with money.
• To regret the loss of property: to feel sorrow over lost possessions.

Related Idioms

• Tiếc đứt ruột: to regret something intensely (literally, "to regret until one's guts are cut").
  • Ôm mối tiếc đứt ruột. (To harbor an intense regret.)
• Ki bo: (colloquial) to be tight-fisted, cheap.
  • Anh chàng đó ki bo lắm. (That guy is really cheap.)