alimony

English

Etymology

Known since 1655, from Latin alimōnia (“food, support, nourishment, sustenance”) (English aliment, as in alimentary), itself from alere (“to nourish”) + -mōnia (“action, state, condition”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈæ.lɪ.mə.ni/
• IPA^(key): /ˈæ.lɪ.moʊ.ni/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

alimony (countable and uncountable, plural alimonies)

1. (law) A court-mandated allowance made to a former spouse by a divorced or legally separated person.

   Synonym: maintenance

   • 1985, Joel Schumacher, Carl Kurlander, St. Elmo's Fire (motion picture), spoken by Kevin Dolenz (Andrew McCarthy):

     Who won, huh? Nobody. Used to be sex was the only free thing, No longer. Alimony… palimony… it's all financial. Love is an illusion.

2. The means to support life.

Derived terms

• alimonious
• palimony
• vaginamony

Related terms

• aliment
• alimentary

Translations

a court-enforced allowance

• Arabic: النفقة
• Bulgarian: издръжка (bg) (izdrǎžka)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 贍養費／赡养费 (zh) (shànyǎngfèi), 赡养费 (zh) (shànyǎngfèi)

• Czech: výživné n, alimenty (cs) m pl
• Danish: hustrubidrag n
• Dutch: alimentatie (nl) f, alimentatiegeld n
• Esperanto: nutramono, alimento (eo)
• Finnish: elatusapu (fi)
• French: pension alimentaire (fr) f
• Georgian: ალიმენტი (alimenṭi)
• German: Unterhalt (de) m, Alimente (de) pl
• Greek: επίδομα διατροφής n (epídoma diatrofís), (colloquial) διατροφή (el) f (diatrofí)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hebrew: מְזוֹנוֹת (he) m pl (mezonót)
• Interlingue:
• Irish: ailiúnas m
• Italian: alimenti (it) m pl
• Japanese: (離婚 (ja) (りこん, rikon)) 扶養料 (ふようりょう, fuyōryō)
• Portuguese: pensão alimentícia f, pensão (pt) f
• Romanian: pensie de întreținere (ro) f, pensie alimentară (ro) f
• Spanish: pensión (es) (alimenticia (es)) f
• Swedish: underhåll (sv)
• Thai: ค่าอุปการะเลี้ยงดู (kâa-ùp-bpà-gaa-rá-líiang-duu)
• Ukrainian: аліме́нти (uk) m pl (aliménty)

the means to support life

• Dutch: onderhoud (nl) n, dagelijks brood n, levensonderhoud (nl) n
• Finnish: toimeentulo (fi), elanto (fi), elatus (fi)
• Greek: τροφεία (el) n pl (trofeía)
• Interlingue:
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Irish: ailiúnas m
• Latin: alimonia f
• Russian: сре́дства к существова́нию n pl (srédstva k suščestvovániju)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Italian: ^{(please verify)} alimenti (it)
• (deprecated template usage) Japanese: 別居扶助料 (bekkyo fujoryō)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} alimentacija f
• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} మనోవర్తి (te) (manōvarti)

Further reading

• alimony on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Molniya