penury

English

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin penuria (“want”), related to paene (“scarcely”), c. 1400. Compare French pénurie.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɛnjʊɹi/, /ˈpɛnjəɹi/

Noun

penury (usually uncountable, plural penuries)

1. Extreme want; poverty; destitution.
   • 2009 April 18, Oliver Kamm, “The recession explained”, in The Times Online‎^[1]:

     The hardship, penury and hunger of the early 1930s is etched in the collective memory of older Americans.

2. A lack of something; a dearth.

   Synonyms: barrenness, insufficiency

   • 1855, Robert Browning, “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came”, XI:

     No! penury, inertness and grimace, / In some strange sort, were the land's portion. [...]

Derived terms

• penurious

Translations

poverty, destitution

• Esperanto: malriĉo
• Greek: ένδεια (el) f (éndeia), πενία (el) f (penía), ανέχεια (el) f (anécheia)
• Russian: нищета́ (ru) (niščetá), нужда́ (ru) (nuždá)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Serbo-Croatian: neimaština (sh) f
• Spanish: pauperismo m, pobrisimo m, pobreza (es) f
• Ukrainian: біднота́ (uk) f (bidnotá)

lack of something

• French: pénurie (fr) f
• Greek: ανέχεια (el) f (anécheia), ανεπάρκεια (el) f (anepárkeia)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: , недоста́ток (ru) m (nedostátok)

Anagrams

• pruney