penniless

English

Alternative forms

• pennyless

Etymology

From Middle English penyles, penylees; equivalent to penny +‎ -less. Compare Old Norse penningalauss (“penniless”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɛ.nɪ.ləs/

Adjective

penniless (not comparable)

1. Lacking even the smallest amount of money.

   Synonym: farthingless

   • 1889, Horatio Alger, Driven From Home, ch. 10:

     A dollar and a quarter seems a small sum, but if you are absolutely penniless it might as well be a thousand.

   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 17, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything. In a moment she had dropped to the level of a casual labourer.

Translations

utterly without money

• Bengali: নিকড়িয়া (nikôṛiya)
• Breton: didra (br)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 一貧如洗／一贫如洗 (zh) (yīpínrúxǐ), 一贫如洗 (zh) (yīpínrúxǐ), 身無分文／身无分文 (shēnwúfēnwén), 身无分文 (shēnwúfēnwén), 囊空如洗 (zh) (nángkōngrúxǐ), 不名一文 (zh) (bùmíngyīwén), 一文不名 (zh) (yīwénbùmíng)

• Finnish: pennitön (fi)
• French: sans le sou (fr)
• German: mittellos (de), ohne Geld, ohne einen Pfennig
• Hindi: निकौड़िया m (nikauṛiyā)
• Indonesian: melarat (id)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: spiantato (it), squattrinato (it), scannato (it)
• Japanese: 一文無し (いちもんなし, ichimonnashi), 無一文 (むいちもん, muichimon), 文無し (もんなし, monnashi)
• Norwegian: pengelens (no)
• Polish: bez grosza przy duszy (pl)
• Portuguese: paupérrimo (pt)
• Russian: безде́нежный (ru) (bezdénežnyj), без гроша́ (bez grošá), без копе́йки (bez kopéjki), на мели́ (ru) (na melí)
• Volapük: nenpänidik, nenmonik

See also

• Thesaurus:impoverished