Confused about the word 小气
I am a little confused about 小气. I am told it has 2 meanings: 1; Stingy/mean. 2: narrow minded/petty.
These are very different ideas and I cant see how you would tell when it's stingy or when it's petty. I mean look at 他很小气， Is he stingy or is he petty?
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Answers · 14
5
You would know from context!
3
小气rarely means narrow minded without any context.
2
As a Chinese,I can tell you 他很小气definitely means he is stingy~
0
The second meaning is rarely used now.
0
petty is more closed to "小家子气" in Chinese. stingy means "小气"
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