scarcity

English

Etymology

From Old Northern French escarcete; surface analysis scarce +‎ -ity.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈskɛɹsɪti/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈskɛəsɪti/

Noun

scarcity (countable and uncountable, plural scarcities)

1. (uncountable) the condition of something being scarce or deficient
   • July 6, 1751, Samuel Johnson, The Rambler No. 136

     Praise […] owes its value only to its scarcity.

2. (countable) an inadequate amount of something; a shortage

   a scarcity of grain

Synonyms

• (condition of something being scarce): infrequency, rareness, rarity; see also Thesaurus:rareness
• (inadequate amount of something): dearth, deficiency, lack, infrequency, penury, rareness, rarity, want; see also Thesaurus:lack

Antonyms

• (condition of something being scarce): frequency, commonness; see also Thesaurus:commonness
• (inadequate amount of something): abundance, copiousness; see also Thesaurus:excess

Translations

the condition of something being scarce or deficient

• Asturian: escasez f
• Catalan: escassetat (ca) f, escassedat f, escassesa f
• Czech: nedostatek (cs) m
• Dutch: schaarste (nl) c
• Esperanto: malabundo
• Finnish: vähyys (fi)
• French: manque (fr) m, rareté (fr) f
• Galician: escaseza f
• German: Mangel (de) m, Knappheit (de) f
• Greek: σπάνις (el) (spánis), έλλειψη (el) (élleipsi), στενότητα (el) f (stenótita)

  Ancient: σπάνις f (spánis)

• Italian: scarsità (it) f
• Latin: paucitās f
• Macedonian: оскудност f (oskudnost)
• Polish: niedostatek (pl) m
• Portuguese: escassez (pt) f
• Russian: нехва́тка (ru) f (nexvátka), ску́дость (ru) f (skúdostʹ), недоста́ток (ru) m (nedostátok)
• Scottish Gaelic: cion m, gainne f, gainnead m
• Spanish: escasez (es)
• Swahili: uchache (sw), uhaba (sw)
• Tagalog: kauyakan
• Telugu: కొరత (te) (korata)
• Ukrainian: неста́ча f (nestáča)

an inadequate amount of something; a shortage

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 缺少 (zh) (quēshǎo)

• Czech: nedostatek (cs) m
• Dutch: tekort (nl)
• Finnish: pula (fi)
• French: pénurie (fr) f
• Galician: escaseza f
• Italian: scarsità (it) f
• Latin: inopia f

• Macedonian: недостаток m (nedostatok), недостиг m (nedostig)
• Maori: ngōuruuru
• Portuguese: escassez (pt) f, carestia (pt) f
• Russian: недоста́ток (ru) m (nedostátok), дефици́т (ru) m (deficít)
• Scottish Gaelic: cion m, gainne f, gainnead m
• Spanish: carestía (es) f
• Swahili: uchache (sw), uhaba (sw)
• Telugu: కొరత (te) (korata)
• Ukrainian: неста́ча f (nestáča)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Anagrams

• city cars