can be counted on one’s fingers—very few; not many; scanty ❍ 不！ 我还是要干下去的！ 中国民族工业就只剩下～的几项了。(茅盾《子夜》65) No!I must carry on! There are not many of China’s national industries left:you can count them,on the fingers of one hand…
屈指可数
can be counted on one’s figures; be rare;very few 他的日子已经～了。His days are numbered./像他那样的专家真是～的。Experts like him are indeed very rare.
屈指可数qū zhǐ kě shǔ
扳着手指头就能数得清。形容非常少，寥寥无几。very few, hardly a handful, only a few to count