1.
to find fault with; to nitpick; to criticize
To complain about or point out flaws in something, often in a petty or unreasonable way.
2.
to jinx; to put a damper on; to spoil
To cause something to go wrong or bring bad luck to a situation, ruining the mood or outcome.
An idiomatic expression with two related meanings. The word けち here does not mean "stingy" (its more common standalone meaning) but rather "flaw" or "bad omen."
Common patterns
- Sense 1 (find fault): Xにけちをつける — to find fault with X
- Sense 2 (jinx): けちがつく — bad luck attaches (intransitive); けちをつける — to jinx (transitive)
- 何にでもけちをつける — to find fault with everything
- せっかくの〜にけちをつける — to spoil something that was done with effort
- けちがつく — to be jinxed, to have things go wrong (intransitive variant)
Similar words
- 文句を言う — to complain (more neutral and common)
- いちゃもんをつける — to pick a quarrel, to make unreasonable complaints (more aggressive)
- 難癖をつける — to find fault (formal; implies the complaints are unfair)
Register
Colloquial. Used in informal speech and writing. Not appropriate for formal contexts.