alms

See also: ALMS, ALMs, and Alms

English

Etymology

From Middle English almes, almesse, ælmesse, from Old English ælmesse, from Proto-West Germanic *alemōsinā, a borrowing from Vulgar Latin *alemosyna, from Late Latin eleēmosyna, from Ancient Greek ἐλεημοσύνη (eleēmosúnē, “alms”), from ἐλεέω (eleéō, “I have mercy”), from ἔλεος (éleos, “mercy”). Compare Saterland Frisian Aalmoose (“alms”), Dutch aalmoes (“alms”), German Almosen (“alms”), German Almosen (“alms”), Portuguese esmola (“alms”), Galician esmola (“alms”), Spanish limosna (“alms”), French aumône (“alms”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɑːmz/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɑmz/, /ɑlmz/, (obsolete) /æmz/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑːmz, -ɑːlmz
• Homophone: arms (most non-rhotic accents)

Noun

alms (plural alms)

1. Something given to the poor as charity, such as money, clothing or food.

   She gave $10 weekly to the poor as alms.

   Alms are distributed from the weekly collection for the purpose.

   • c. 1779, Alban Butler, Lives of the Saints

     St. Antoninus never refused an alms which was asked in the name of God.

Derived terms

• almsdeed
• alms-deed
• alms-fee
• alms-folk
• almsfolk
• almsful
• almsgate
• almsgift
• almsgiver
• almsgiving
• almshouse
• almsland
• almsless
• almsman
• alms penny
• almsroom
• alms tub
• almswoman
• plough-alms
• unalmsed

 

Related terms

• eleemosynary

Descendants

• Gullah: aa'ms

Translations

something given to the poor as charity

• Afrikaans: aalmoes (af)
• Albanian: lëmoshë (sq) f
• Arabic: صَدَقَة f (ṣadaqa), خَيْر m (ḵayr)
• Armenian: ողորմություն (hy) (oġormutʻyun)
• Azerbaijani: sədəqə
• Bashkir: хәйер (xəyer), саҙаҡа (saźaqa)
• Belarusian: мі́ласціна f (mílascina)
• Bengali: ভিক্ষা (bn) (bhikkha), খয়রাত (bn) (khoẏorat), সদকা (bn) (śodoka), ভিখ (bn) (bhikh)
• Bulgarian: милости́ня (bg) f (milostínja)
• Burmese: ဒါန (my) (dana.)
• Catalan: almoina (ca) f
• Chichewa: sadaka
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 施捨／施舍 (zh) (shīshě), 施捨物／施舍物 (shīshěwù), 救濟金／救济金 (zh) (jiùjìjīn)

• Cornish: alusennow f pl
• Czech: almužna (cs) f
• Danish: almisse c
• Dutch: aalmoes (nl) f
• Dzongkha: སྦྱིན་པ (sbyin pa)
• Emilian: limòśna f
• Esperanto: almozo (eo)
• Estonian: almus (et)
• Finnish: almu (fi)
• French: aumône (fr) f
• Galician: esmola (gl) f
• Georgian: მოწყალება (moc̣q̇aleba)
• German: Almosen (de) n
• Gothic: 𐌰𐍂𐌼𐌰𐌷𐌰𐌹𐍂𐍄𐌹𐌸𐌰 f (armahairtiþa), 𐌰𐍂𐌼𐌰𐌹𐍉 f (armaiō)
• Greek: ελεημοσύνη (el) f (eleïmosýni)

  Ancient: ἐλεημοσύνη f (eleēmosúnē)

• Gujarati: ભીખ f (bhīkh)
• Gullah: aa’ms
• Hebrew: צְדָקָה (he) f (ts'daká)
• Hindi: दान (hi) m (dān), ख़ैरात pl (xairāt), भिक्षा (hi) f (bhikṣā), भीख (hi) f (bhīkh)
• Hungarian: alamizsna (hu)
• Icelandic: ölmusa f
• Ido: almono (io)
• Indonesian: sedekah (id), infak (id), sumbangan (id)
• Irish: almsa f, déirc f, foighe f, oirchiseacht f
• Italian: elemosina (it) f
• Japanese: 施し物 (ほどこしもの, hodokoshimono), 施し (ほどこし, hodokoshi)
• Kazakh: садақа (sadaqa), қайыр (qaiyr), зекет (zeket)
• Khmer: ទាន (km) (tiən)
• Korean: 구호금 (guhogeum), 의연금 (ko) (uiyeon'geum)
• Kyrgyz: садага (ky) (sadaga), кайыр (ky) (kayır), зекет (ky) (zeket)
• Lao: ຂອງທານ (khǭng thān), ຂອງໄຫ້ທານ (khǭng hai thān), ທານ (thān)
• Latin: stips m, eleēmosyna f
• Latvian: dāvanas m
• Lithuanian: išmalda f
• Macedonian: милостина f (milostina)
• Malay: sedekah
• Maltese: limosja f
• Maori: moni aroha, koha aroha
• Marathi: भीक f (bhīk)
• Mongolian: өглөг (mn) (öglög), хандив (mn) (xandiv)
• Nepali: दान (dān), भिख (bhikh)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: almisse (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: almisse f

• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: милостꙑн҄и f (milostynʹi)

• Old Marathi: 𑘥𑘲𑘎 (bhīka)
• Pali: bhikkhā f (specifically food given as alms), dāna n, bhikkhā f
• Pashto: صدقه (ps) f (sadaqá), خير (ps) m (xayr)
• Persian: صدقه (fa) (sadaqe), تسک (task), خیر (fa) (xeyr)
• Polish: jałmużna (pl) f
• Portuguese: esmola (pt) f
• Prakrit: 𑀪𑀺𑀓𑁆𑀔𑀸 f (bhikkhā), 𑀪𑀺𑀘𑁆𑀙𑀸 f (bhicchā)
• Punjabi: ਭਿੱਖ f (bhikkha), بھِکّھ f (bhikkh)
• Quechua: t'itu
• Romanian: pomană (ro) f, milostenie (ro) f
• Russian: ми́лостыня (ru) f (mílostynja), подая́ние (ru) n (podajánije)
• Sanskrit: भिक्षा (sa) f (bhikṣā), दान (sa) n (dāna)
• Scots: aumous
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: мило̀стиња f

  Roman: milòstinja (sh) f

• Slovak: almužna f, milodar m
• Slovene: miloščina f
• Spanish: limosna (es) f, caridad (es) f
• Swahili: sadaka (sw)
• Swedish: allmosa (sv) c
• Tagalog: limos
• Tajik: садақа (sadaqa), хайр (xayr) (charity)
• Tamil: அளி (ta) (aḷi)
• Tatar: сәдака (tt) (sädaqa)
• Thai: ทาน (th) (taan), ไทยทาน
• Tibetan: སྦྱིན་པ (sbyin pa)
• Tocharian B: pintwāt, yāṣṣu
• Turkish: sadaka (tr), zekât (tr)
• Turkmen: sadaka, haýyr
• Ukrainian: ми́лостиня f (mýlostynja)
• Urdu: صدقہ f (sadaqa), خیرات pl (xairāt), بِھیک f (bhīk)
• Uyghur: سەدىقە (ug) (sediqe)
• Uzbek: sadaqa (uz), xayr (uz)
• Vietnamese: của bố thí, chẩn (vi)
• Yiddish: צדקה f (tsedoke)

Anagrams

• AMLs, AMSL, LAMs, Lams, MASL, MSAL, SAML, SLAM, lams, mals, masl, salm, slam

Swedish

Noun

alms

1. indefinite genitive singular of alm

Anagrams

• mals, smal