squalor

English

Etymology

From the Latin squālor.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈskwɒlə(ɹ)/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈskwɑlɚ/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒlə(ɹ)
• Homophone: squaller (cot–caught merger)

Noun

squalor (usually uncountable, plural squalors)

1. Filthiness and degradation, as from neglect or poverty

   Synonyms: squalidness, foulness, filthiness, squalidity

   • 1860, Isaac Taylor, Ultimate Civilization: And other essays:

     The heterogenous indigent multitude, everywhere wearing nearly the same aspect of squalor.

   • 1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, “Chapter XII”, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC:

     bring this sort of squalor among the upper classes

   • 2013, Car Seat Headrest, We Can't Afford (Your Depression Anymore):

     We’re living in squalor
     That’s the name of this house
     This house is called squalor by all
     There’s a door broken somewhere but I never can remember quite where.

Derived terms

• senile squalor syndrome

Translations

squalidness

• Bulgarian: мръсотия (bg) f (mrăsotija), мизерия (bg) f (mizerija)
• Catalan: misèria (ca) f, indigència f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 骯髒 / 肮脏 (zh) (āngzāng)

• Czech: špína (cs) f, bída (cs) f
• Danish: snusk, smuds
• Dutch: weerzinwekkende vuiligheid, miserabele omstandigheden
• Finnish: surkeus (fi), kurjuus (fi)
• French: saleté repoussante, conditions misérables
• Galician: rafa (gl) f, laceira (gl) f, pioca f, caiñeza f, gafura (gl) f
• German: Schmutz (de), Elend (de) n, Vernachlässigung (de) f, Ärmlichkeit (de) f, Dreck (de) m, Verschmutzung (de) f, Unreinheit (de) f, Verderbtheit (de) f, Verkommenheit (de) f
• Hungarian: nyomor (hu), mocsok (hu), nélkülözés (hu)
• Latin: squālor m
• Māori: hawa
• Polish: plugastwo (pl) n, brud (pl) m
• Portuguese: esqualidez (pt) f, esqualor m
• Russian: грязь (ru) f (grjazʹ) (dirt), убо́жество (ru) n (ubóžestvo)
• Spanish: miseria (es), inmundicia (es) f
• Swedish: misär (sv) c, elände (sv) n, smuts (sv) n, lort (sv) c, snusk (sv) n

References

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “squalor”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “squalor”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Latin

Etymology

Etymology tree

Latin squālus

Proto-Indo-European *-os

Proto-Indo-European *-s

Proto-Indo-European *-ōs

Proto-Italic *-ōs

Latin -or

Latin squālor

From squālus (“dirty, unkempt”) + -or.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈskʷaː.ɫɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈskʷaː.lor]

Noun

squālor m (genitive squālōris); third declension

1. stiffness, roughness
2. dirtiness, filthiness, foulness, squalor

   Synonym: paedor

Declension

Third-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	squālor	squālōrēs
genitive	squālōris	squālōrum
dative	squālōrī	squālōribus
accusative	squālōrem	squālōrēs
ablative	squālōre	squālōribus
vocative	squālor	squālōrēs

Derived terms

• squāleō

References

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