miseria

See also: miséria and misèria

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin miseria (“misery”). By surface analysis, mìsero +‎ -èria.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /miˈzɛ.rja/
• Rhymes: -ɛrja
• Hyphenation: mi‧sè‧ria

Noun

miseria f (plural miserie)

1. poverty

   Synonyms: indigenza, povertà

2. (usually in the plural) trouble, evil, suffering

   Synonyms: infelicità, male

3. pittance, trifle

   Synonym: sciocchezza

4. (botany) tradescantia

   Synonym: erba miseria

Derived terms

• porca miseria

Related terms

• immiserire
• miserabile
• miserevole
• misero

Further reading

• miseria in Dizionario Italiano Olivetti, Olivetti Media Communication
• “miseria”, in Vocabolario Treccani on line (in Italian), Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, 2026

Anagrams

• riesami

Latin

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *mh₂isros?

Proto-Italic *misseros

Latin miser

Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós

Proto-Italic *-ijos

Proto-Italic *-ios

Old Latin -ios

Latin -ius

Latin -ia

Latin miseria

From miser + -ia.

Pronunciation

• miseria:
  • (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [mɪˈsɛ.ri.a]
  • (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [miˈs̬ɛː.ri.a]
  • Hyphenation: mi‧se‧ri‧a
• miseriā:
  • (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [mɪˈsɛ.ri.aː]
  • (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [miˈs̬ɛː.ri.a]
  • Hyphenation: mi‧se‧ri‧ā

Noun

miseria f (genitive miseriae); first declension

1. misfortune

   Synonyms: plāga, calamitās, incommodum, dētrīmentum, clādēs, incommoditās, īnfortūnium, vulnus, cāsus, malum, cruciātus, nūbēs

   Antonyms: commodum, commoditās

2. misery (great unhappiness)
   • 160 BCE, Publius Terentius Afer, Adelphoe 294:

     Sōlus meārum miseriārumst remedium.

     He is the only cure for my misery.

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	miseria	miseriae
genitive	miseriae	miseriārum
dative	miseriae	miseriīs
accusative	miseriam	miseriās
ablative	miseriā	miseriīs
vocative	miseria	miseriae

Descendants

• → Catalan: misèria
• → Old French: miserie
  • → English: misery
  • French: misère
    • → English: misère
    • → Romanian: mizerie
• → Italian: miseria
• → Occitan: misèria
• → Polish: mizeria (learned)
• → Portuguese: miséria
• → Spanish: miseria

References

• “mĭsĕrĭa”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• miseria in Georges, Karl Ernst; Georges, Heinrich (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th edition, volume 2, Hahnsche Buchhandlung, columns 944–945
• R. E. Latham, D. R. Howlett, & R. K. Ashdowne, editors (1975–2013), “miseria”, in Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources‎^[1], London: Oxford University Press for the British Academy, →ISBN, →OCLC
• “mĭsĕrĭa”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 982, column 3.
• Harm Pinkster, editor (2018), “miseria”, in Woordenboek Latijn/Nederlands‎^[2], 7th revised edition, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, →ISBN, →OCLC
• Latino-Sinicum, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011
• "MISERIA", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “miseria”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers

Further reading

• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[3], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to comfort in misfortune: consolari aliquem in miseriis
    

Portuguese

Noun

miseria f (plural miserias)

1. pre-reform spelling (used until 1943 in Brazil and 1911 in Portugal) of miséria

Spanish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *mh₂isros?

Proto-Italic *misseros

Latin miser

Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós

Proto-Italic *-ijos

Proto-Italic *-ios

Old Latin -ios

Latin -ius

Latin -ia

Latin miseriabor.

Spanish miseria

Borrowed from Latin miseria. By surface analysis, mísero + -ia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /miˈseɾja/ [miˈse.ɾja]
• Rhymes: -eɾja
• Syllabification: mi‧se‧ria

Noun

miseria f (plural miserias)

1. misery
2. poverty
3. avarice, greed
4. very small amount

Derived terms

• villa miseria

Related terms

• mísero

Further reading

• “miseria”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025