Alternative forms
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Etymology
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From Middle English penyles, penylees; equivalent to penny + -less. Compare Old Norse penningalauss (“penniless”).
Pronunciation
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Adjective
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penniless (not comparable)
- Lacking even the smallest amount of money.
- Synonym: farthingless
1889, Horatio Alger, chapter 10, in Driven From Home:A dollar and a quarter seems a small sum, but if you are absolutely penniless it might as well be a thousand.
1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC: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.
Derived terms
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Translations
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utterly without money
- Arabic: فقير (ar)
- Bengali: নিকড়িয়া (bn) (nikoṛiẏa), কপর্দকশূন্য (bn) (kopordokśunno)
- Breton: didra (br)
- Bulgarian: безпаричен (bg) (bezparičen)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 一貧如洗/一贫如洗 (zh) (yīpínrúxǐ), 身無分文/身无分文 (zh) (shēnwúfēnwén), 囊空如洗 (zh) (nángkōngrúxǐ), 不名一文 (zh) (bùmíngyīwén), 一文不名 (zh) (yīwénbùmíng)
- Esperanto: senmona
- Finnish: pennitön (fi)
- French: sans le sou (fr)
- German: mittellos (de), ohne Geld, ohne einen Pfennig
- Greek: απένταρος (el) (apéntaros)
- Hindi: निकौड़िया m (nikauṛiyā)
- Indonesian: melarat (id), fakir (id)
- Italian: spiantato (it), squattrinato (it), scannato (it)
- Japanese: 一文無し (ja) (いちもんなし, ichimonnashi), 無一文 (ja) (むいちもん, muichimon), 文無し (もんなし, monnashi)
- Korean: 무일푼인 (mu'ilpun-in)
- Malay: fakir (ms)
- 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)
- Spanish: miserable (es)
- Ukrainian: безгрошови́й (uk) (bezhrošovýj), без гро́шей (bez hróšej)
- Volapük: nenpänidik, nenmonik
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