"Miser" refers to a person who is extremely stingy and treats money as their life. Its core lies in the word "miser," that is, guarding wealth tightly without being willing to use or share it. This idiom carries a strong derogatory connotation and is often used to satirize those who sacrifice quality of life, interpersonal relationships, and even moral principles in order to accumulate wealth. In its deeper meaning, it reveals excessive attachment to material things in human nature and how such attachment can make people become slaves to wealth. Its usage scenarios are mostly seen in literary criticism, social commentary, or everyday teasing, such as describing someone who is unwilling to give a penny to friends and indifferent to charitable causes. In terms of cultural background, the term originates from Wu Jingzi's The Scholars in the Qing Dynasty, in which classic misers such as Yan Jiansheng were portrayed, reflecting the distortion of human nature by money in the late feudal society. Emotionally, it contains both mockery and a hidden sorrow over the alienation of human nature.
📝 Example
1. He is clearly enormously wealthy, yet he is unwilling to buy even a new piece of clothing for his parents—a typical miser. (Referring to someone extremely stingy who only knows how to accumulate wealth.)
2. At the charity dinner, that wealthy man would not give a single cent, and was privately called a miser by everyone. (Describing someone who remains stingy and petty when it is time to give.)