một lần sợ tốn, bốn lần chẳng xong
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Being overly frugal can lead to more expenses later
Literally: one time fear of spending, four times not finished
Examples
Anh ấy mua đồ rẻ tiền, nhưng một lần sợ tốn, bốn lần chẳng xong.He bought cheap things, but being overly frugal led to more expenses later
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Discovered via Nam ngạn chích cẩm (Phạm Quang Sán, 1918; public domain, via vi.wikisource); retrieved 2026-08-01. Source: source ↗ Attested in Nam ngạn chích cẩm (Phạm Quang Sán, 1918). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-08-01; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “một lần sợ tốn, bốn lần chẳng xong” mean?
Being overly frugal can lead to more expenses later Literally: one time fear of spending, four times not finished
Is “một lần sợ tốn, bốn lần chẳng xong” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.