poverty

English

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old French poverté (Modern French pauvreté), from Latin paupertās, from pauper (“poor”) + -tas (“noun of state suffix”). Cognates include pauper, poor.

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /ˈpɒvəti/, X-SAMPA: /"pQv@ti/
• (GenAm) IPA: /ˈpɑːvɚti/, X-SAMPA: /"pA:v@`ti/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

poverty (usually uncountable; plural poverties)

1. The quality or state of being poor or indigent; want or scarcity of means of subsistence; indigence; need.
2. Any deficiency of elements or resources that are needed or desired, or that constitute richness; as, poverty of soil; poverty of the blood; poverty of ideas.

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:poverty

Antonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:wealth

Related terms

• poor
• poorness

Translations

quality or state of being poor

• Arabic: فقر (ar) (faqr) m
• Catalan: pobresa (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 貧窮 (cmn), 贫穷 (cmn) (pínqióng), 貧困 (cmn), 贫困 (cmn) (pínkùn)

• Czech: chudoba (cs) f
• Dutch: armoede (nl) f
• Esperanto: malriĉeco (eo)
• Estonian: vaesus
• Finnish: köyhyys (fi), puute (fi)
• French: pauvreté (fr) f
• German: Armut (de) f
• Hebrew: עוני (he)
• Hindi: ग़रीबी (hi) (ġarībī) f
• Hungarian: szegénység (hu), nyomorúság (hu), nincstelenség (hu)
• Icelandic: fátækt (is) f
• Interlingua: povressa
• Irish: bochtaineacht (ga) f
• Italian: povertà (it) f
• Jèrriais: pouôrreté
• Japanese: 貧乏 (ja) (びんぼう, bimbō), 貧困 (ja) (ひんこん, hinkon)
• Korean: 가난 (ko) (ganan), 빈곤 (ko) (bingon) (貧困 (ko))
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: هه‌ژاری (ku)

• Latin: paupertās (la) f
• Lithuanian: skurdas (lt) m
• Navajo: téʼéʼį́
• Norwegian: fattigdom (no)
• Occitan: pauretat (oc)
• Persian: فقر (fa) (faqr)
• Polish: bieda (pl) f, ubóstwo (pl) n
• Portuguese: pobreza (pt) f
• Romanian: sărăcie (ro) f, mizerie (ro) f, paupertate (ro) f
• Russian: бедность (ru) (bédnost’) f, нищета (ru) (niščetá) f, нужда (ru) (nuždá) f
• Scottish Gaelic: bochdainn m, truaighe f
• Serbo-Croatian: siromáštvo (sh) n, neimáština (sh) f
• Slovak: chudoba (sk) f, bieda (sk) f
• Spanish: pobreza f, pauperrísmo m
• Swahili: ufukara (sw)
• Swedish: fattigdom (sv) c
• Telugu: పేదరికం (te) (pEdarikam), బీదరికం (te) (beedarikam)
• Turkish: fakirlik (tr), yoksulluk (tr)
• Urdu: غریبی (ur) (ġarībī) f
• Vietnamese: sự nghèo nàn (vi)

deficiency of elements

• Catalan: pobresa (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 缺乏 (cmn) (quēfá)

• Finnish: puute (fi), köyhyys (fi)
• Hungarian: hiány (hu)
• Japanese: 欠乏 (ja) (けつぼう, ketsubō, けつぼく, ketsubaku)
• Russian: недостаток (ru) (nedostátok) m, нехватка (ru) (nexvátka) f, скудность (ru) (skúdnost') f

• Scottish Gaelic: airc (gd) f
• Serbo-Croatian: siromáštvo (sh) n, òskudica (sh) f,
• Slovak: nedostatok m
• Spanish: pobreza (es)
• Swahili: ufukara (sw)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Ido: povreso
• Indonesian: kemiskinan

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.