Idioms and expressions that mean that some is careful with their money in many languages.
| Language | Idiom |
|---|---|
| Chinese (Mandarin | 一毛不拔 (yīmáobùbá) to not pull out one hair 小气 [小氣] (xiǎoqì) small spirit |
| English | to be stingy to be tight(fisted) to be closefisted to be cheeseparing to be a cheapskate to be a skinflint to be a tightwad to have deep pockets and short arms as tight as a gnat's chuff as tight as a duck's arse he has glue in his pockets he'd peel an orange in his pocket he's so tight he thinks he owes himself money |
| French | être avare to be miserly être radin to be tight/mean être pince to be a clamp être grippe-sous to be a penny-pincher les lâcher avec un élastique to let go with a rubber band ne pas attacher son chien avec des saucisses to not tie up one's dog with sausages être près de ses sous to be close with one's sous se serrer la ceinture to tighten one's belt avoir des oursins dans le porte-monnaie to have sea urchins in your wallet/purse avoir des oursins dans les poches to have sea urchins in your pocket |
| German | jeden Pfennig/Cent/Euro zweimal umdrehen to turn over every penny/cent/Euro twice jeden Groschen dreimal umdrehen to turn over every groschen (10-pfennig piece) three times jede Mark dreimal umdrehen to turn over every Mark three times |
| Italian | avere il braccino corto to have short arms |
| Japanese | 握り手 (nigirite) grasping hand 守銭奴 (shusendo) guard money fellow 渋ちん / シブチン (shibuchan) reluctant little one |
| Malay | tangkai jering jering stalk - jering is a kind of plant |
| Polish | liczyć się z każdym groszem to reckon with every penny mieć węża w kieszeni to have a snake in one's pocket |
| Spanish | ser un rata to be a rat ser un perro que mordía y no soltar to be a dog that bites and doesn't let go |
| Swedish | vända på varje öre to turn over every öre vända på varje korvöre to turn over every sausage |
| Welsh | mae e'n cadw draenog yn ei boced he keeps a hedgehog in his pocket |
https://www.lawlessfrench.com/expressions/money-expressions/
https://dictionary.reverso.net/english-french/stingy
https://de.wiktionary.org/wiki/jeden_Pfennig_zweimal_umdrehen
Some idioms provided by Maciej Kaniewski, Micheál De Róiste and Daniel Krauße
I wrote a song inspired by the Welsh hedgehog idiom called Pocket Hedgehogs.
Books of idioms, proverbs and sayings in many languages
If you would like to make any corrections or additions to this page, or if you can provide recordings, please contact me.
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