beggar

See also: béggar

English

A female beggar in Mexico

Alternative forms

• begger (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English beggere, beggare, beggar (“beggar”), from Middle English beggen (“to beg”), equivalent to beg +‎ -ar.

Alternative etymology derives Middle English beggere, beggare, beggar from Old French begart, originally a member of the Beghards, a lay brotherhood of mendicants in the Low Countries, from Middle Dutch beggaert (“mendicant”), with pejorative suffix (see -ard); the order is said to be named after the priest Lambert le Bègue of Liège (French for “Lambert the Stammerer”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbɛɡɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbɛɡə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛɡə(ɹ)

Noun

beggar (plural beggars)

1. A person who begs.
   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     “ […] They talk of you as if you were Croesus—and I expect the beggars sponge on you unconscionably.” And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes.

   • 1983, Stanley Rosen, Plato’s Sophist: The Drama of Original & Image, St. Augustine’s Press, p. 62:

     Odysseus has returned to his home disguised as a beggar.

2. A person suffering from extreme poverty.
   • 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:

     I'm to be a poor, crawling beggar, sponging for rum, when I might be rolling in a coach!

3. (colloquial, sometimes endearing) A mean or wretched person; a scoundrel.

   What does that silly beggar think he's doing?

4. (UK) A minced oath for bugger.

Synonyms

• (who begs): mendicant, panhandler, schnorrer, spanger, truant, see also Thesaurus:beggar
• (extremely poor person): palliard, pauper, vagabond, see also Thesaurus:pauper

Derived terms

Terms derived from beggar (noun)

• beggarliness
• beggarly
• beggars can't be choosers
• beggar's-lice
• beggar-ticks
• beggarweed
• beggary
• buckle-beggar
• couple-beggar
• cyberbeggar
• e-beggar
• kill-the-beggar
• play silly beggars
• put the beggar on the gentleman
• scare-beggar
• set a beggar on horseback and he'll ride to the Devil
• sturdy beggar
• swamp beggar-ticks

 

Translations

person who begs

• Albanian: lypës (sq) m
• Arabic: سَائِل‎ m (sāʔil)

  Egyptian Arabic: شحات‎ m (šaḥḥāt)

  Hijazi Arabic: شَحَّات‎ m (šaḥḥāt)

  Moroccan Arabic: سعاي‎ m (saʕʕāy), طلاب‎ m (ṭallāb)

• Armenian: մուրացկան (hy) (muracʿkan)
• Aromanian: tsiritor m, tsiritonj m, tsiripãni m, dicunjar m, proseac m, pitaci, zicljar m
• Asturian: méndigu m
• Azerbaijani: dilənçi (az)
• Baluchi: پکیر‎ (pakír), فقیر‎ (faqír), پنڈوک‎ (pinḍok)
• Bashkir: хәйерсе (xäyerse)
• Bengali: ভিক্ষুক (bhikkhuk), ফকির (phokir)
• Belarusian: жабра́к m (žabrák), жабра́чка f (žabráčka)
• Bulgarian: про́сяк (bg) m (prósjak), просяки́ня f (prosjakínja)
• Burmese: သူတောင်းစား (my) (sutaung:ca:)
• Catalan: mendicant (ca) m or f, captaire (ca) m or f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 乞丐 (zh) (qǐgài), 叫花子 (zh) (jiàohuāzi), 花子 (zh) (huāzi)

• Czech: žebrák (cs) m, žebračka f
• Danish: tigger (da) c, tiggerske c (female), betler c, betlerske c (female)
• Dutch: bedelaar (nl) m, bedelaarster (nl) f, bedelares (nl) f
• Esperanto: almozulo, almozulino (female), almozisto, almozistino (female)
• Estonian: kerjus (et)
• Faroese: biddari m
• Finnish: kerjäläinen (fi)
• French: gueux (fr) m, mendiant (fr) m, mendiante (fr) f, quêteux (fr) m (Quebec)
• Galician: mendigo (gl) m, mendiga f, mendicante m or f
• Georgian: მათხოვარი (matxovari)
• German: Bettler (de) m, Bettlerin (de) f (female), Bettelmann m, Bettelfrau f (female), Bettelweib n (female), Bettelbruder m, Bettelschwester f (female), Pracher m, Pracherin f (female)
• Gothic: 𐌱𐌹𐌳𐌰𐌲𐍅𐌰 m (bidagwa)
• Greek: ζητιάνος (el) (zitiános), ζητιάνα (el) f (zitiána), επαίτης (el) m (epaítis)

  Ancient: ἐπαίτης m (epaítēs), προσαίτης m (prosaítēs)

• Hebrew: קַבּצָן‎ m (kabtsan)
• Hindi: याचक (hi) m (yācak), भिक्षुक (hi) m (bhikṣuk), भिखमंगा (hi) m (bhikhmaṅgā)
• Hungarian: koldus (hu)
• Icelandic: betlari (is) m, beiningamaður m
• Indonesian: pengemis (id)
• Irish: sirtheoir m, bacach (ga) m
• Italian: mendicante (it) m or f
• Japanese: 乞食 (ja) (こつじき, kotsujiki, こじき, kojiki)
• Khmer: អ្នកសុំទាន (nĕək som tiən)
• Korean: 걸개(乞丐) (geolgae), 거지 (ko) (geoji), 걸인(乞人) (georin)
• Lao: ຄົນຂໍທານ (khon khǭ thān)
• Latin: mendīcus m
• Latvian: ubags m, ubadze f
• Lithuanian: elgeta (lt) m or f
• Macedonian: питач m (pitač), питачка f (pitačka), просјак m (prosjak), просјачка f (prosjačka)
• Malay: pengemis
• Malayalam: ഭിക്ഷക്കാരൻ (ml) (bhikṣakkāraṉ), യാചകൻ (ml) (yācakaṉ)
• Maltese: tallab m
• Manchu: ᡤᡳᠣᡥᠣᡨᠣ (giohoto)
• Middle English: beggere
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: гуйлгачин (mn) (gujlgačin)

• Navajo: adókeedí
• Ngazidja Comorian: mmezi class 1/2
• Norman: bédgeux m, pouqu'teux m
• North Frisian:

  Föhr-Amrum: beedler m, trögel m, beedelmaan m

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tigger m, betler (no) m, betlerske m or f (female)

  Nynorsk: tiggar m

• Pali: yācaka m

  Devanagari: याचक m (yācaka)

  Thai: ยาจก m (yācaka)

• Persian: گدا‎ (fa) (gedâ)
• Plautdietsch: Pracha m
• Polish: żebrak (pl) m, żebraczka (pl) f
• Portuguese: mendigo (pt) m, mendiga f, pedinte (pt) m or f
• Romani: čororo
• Romanian: cerșetor (ro) m, cerșetoare (ro) f
• Russian: попроша́йка (ru) m or f (poprošájka), нищебро́д (ru) m (niščebród)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: про̏сја̄к m, просја̀киња f

  Roman: prȍsjāk (sh) m, prosjàkinja (sh) f

• Shan: ၵူၼ်းယွၼ်း (kúun yáun)
• Sicilian: addumanneri m, addumannera f
• Slovak: žobrák m, žobráčka f
• Slovene: berač (sl) m, beračica f
• Spanish: mendigo (es) m, mendiga (es) f, pordiosero (es), mendicante (es) m or f, limosnero (es) m
• Swahili: mwombaji (sw), ombaomba
• Swedish: tiggare (sv) c, tiggerska (sv) c (female), bettlare (sv) c, bettlerska c (female)
• Tagalog: pulubi, tanglo
• Tajik: гадо (gado)
• Tamil: please add this translation if you can
• Thai: ขอทาน (th) (kɔ̌ɔ-taan)
• Tibetan: སྤྲང་པོ (sprang po)
• Tocharian B: yaṣṣuca
• Turkish: dilenci (tr)
• Tuvan: диленчи (dilençi)
• Ukrainian: жебра́к m (žebrák), жебра́чка f (žebráčka)
• Uzbek: gadoy (uz), tilanchi (uz)
• Vietnamese: ăn xin, ăn mày (vi)
• Volapük: (♂♀) lubegan (vo), (♂) hilubegan, (♀) jilubegan, (collective ♂♀) lubeganef (vo), (collective ♂) hilubeganef, (collective ♀) jilubeganef
• Yakut: умнаһыт (umnahıt)
• Zhuang: gaujvaq

person suffering poverty

• Arabic: فَقِير‎ (ar) m (faqīr)

  Hijazi Arabic: فَقِير‎ m (fagīr)

• Bashkir: ярлы (yarlı)
• Belarusian: бяда́к m (bjadák), бяда́чка f (bjadáčka), бе́дны m (bjédny), бе́дная f (bjédnaja), бядня́к m (bjadnják), бядня́чка f (bjadnjáčka)
• Bulgarian: бедня́к (bg) m (bednják), бедня́чка f (bednjáčka), сирома́х (bg) m (siromáh), сиромахки́ня f (siromahkínja)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 窮人／穷人 (zh) (qióngrén)

• Czech: chudák (cs) m, chudačka f
• Dutch: armoedzaaier (nl) m, bedelaar (nl) m, haveloze (nl) m
• Finnish: keppikerjäläinen (fi), köyhä (fi)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• Latvian: ubags m
• Macedonian: питач m (pitač), питачка m (pitačka), просјак m (prosjak), просјачка m (prosjačka)
• Middle English: beggere
• Polish: biedak (pl), biedaczka (pl) f
• Portuguese: mendigo (pt) m
• Romani: čororo
• Romanian: sărac (ro) m
• Russian: ни́щий (ru) m (níščij), ни́щенка (ru) f (níščenka), ни́щая (ru) f (níščaja), бедня́к (ru) m (bednják), бедня́чка (ru) f (bednjáčka), нищебро́д (ru) m (niščebród), нищебро́дка (ru) f (niščebródka), бе́дный (ru) m (bédnyj), бе́дная (ru) f (bédnaja)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: про̏сја̄к m, просја̀киња f, сиро̀ма̄х m, сирома̀шица f

  Roman: prȍsjāk (sh) m, prosjàkinja (sh) f, siròmāh (sh) m, siromàšica (sh) f

• Sicilian: disgrazziatu m, mischinu (scn) m, pòviru (scn) m
• Slovak: chudák m
• Spanish: mendigo (es) m
• Swedish: tiggare (sv) c
• Thai: ยาจก (th) (yaa-jòk), ขอทาน (th) (kɔ̌ɔ-taan)
• Turkish: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: бідня́к (uk) m (bidnják), бідня́чка (uk) f (bidnjáčka), сірома́ха m or f (siromáxa), сіро́ма (uk) m or f (siróma), біда́к (uk) m (bidák), біда́чка (uk) f (bidáčka), бі́дний (uk) m (bídnyj), бі́дна f (bídna)

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

• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} బిచ్చగాడు (te) m (biccagāḍu), ^{(please verify)} బిచ్చగత్తె f (biccagatte)

Verb

beggar (third-person singular simple present beggars, present participle beggaring, simple past and past participle beggared)

1. (transitive) To make a beggar of someone; impoverish.
2. (transitive, figurative) To exhaust the resources of; to outdo.
   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

     `Now,' answered Ayesha, with proud humility - `now when my lord doth speak thus royally and give with so free a hand, it cannot become me to lag behind in words, and be beggared of my generosity.'

   • 1996 July 7, Angeline Goreau, “Speed”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Taking the ontological temperature of today and of the pre-revolutionary 18th century, Mr. Kundera finds that the speed we love has beggared us of pleasure.

Synonyms

• ruin

Derived terms

Terms derived from beggar (verb)

• beggar belief
• beggar description
• beggar-my-neighbor
• beggar-my-neighbour
• beggar the question
• beggar-thy-neighbor
• beggar thy neighbor

 

Translations

to make a beggar of someone

• Bulgarian: ^{(please verify)} докарвам до просяшка тояга (dokarvam do prosjaška tojaga)
• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} aan de bedelstaf brengen, ruïneren (nl)
• Finnish: köyhdyttää (fi), köyhtyä (fi) (reflexive)

to exhaust the resources of

• Finnish: köyhdyttää (fi)

Anagrams

• bagger

Middle English

Noun

beggar

1. Alternative form of beggere