penuria

See also: penúria

Italian

Etymology

From Latin pēnūria.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /peˈnu.rja/
• Rhymes: -urja
• Hyphenation: pe‧nù‧ria

Noun

penuria f (plural penurie)

1. shortage, lack, scarcity, scarceness

   Synonyms: scarsità, mancanza

Further reading

• penuria in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
• penuria in garzantilinguistica.it – Garzanti Linguistica, De Agostini Scuola Spa

Anagrams

• pianure, prunaie, unipare

Latin

Alternative forms

• paenūria

Etymology

Perhaps related to paene (“almost”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [peːˈnuː.ri.a]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [peˈnuː.ri.a]

Noun

pēnūria f (genitive pēnūriae); first declension

1. want, need, scarcity

   Synonyms: egestās, paupertās, dēsīderium, necessitās, inopia, indigentia, ūsus, opus, angustia

   Antonyms: dīvitiae, opulentia

   • c. 125 CE – 180 CE, Apuleius, Metamorphoses (Apuleius) 4.28:

     […] at vērō puellae iūniōris tam praecipua, tam praeclāra pulchritūdō nec exprimī ac ne sufficienter quidem laudārī sermōnis hūmānī pēnūriā poterat.

     […] but the beauty of the youngest was so marvellous and dazzling that it could neither be expressed nor sufficiently praised by the paucity of human speech.

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	pēnūria	pēnūriae
genitive	pēnūriae	pēnūriārum
dative	pēnūriae	pēnūriīs
accusative	pēnūriam	pēnūriās
ablative	pēnūriā	pēnūriīs
vocative	pēnūria	pēnūriae

Descendants

• English: penury
• French: pénurie
• Italian: penuria
• Portuguese: penúria
• Romanian: penurie
• Sicilian: pinùria
• Spanish: penuria

Further reading

• “penuria”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “penuria”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “penuria”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin pēnūria. Cognate with English penury.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /peˈnuɾja/ [peˈnu.ɾja]
• Rhymes: -uɾja
• Syllabification: pe‧nu‧ria

Noun

penuria f (plural penurias)

1. hardship (financial), penury
2. shortage, lack, dearth

   Synonyms: escasez, falta

Further reading

• “penuria”, 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