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Poor Definition

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English

Wikipedia has articles on: Poor

Etymology

From Middle English povre, povere < Old French (and Anglo-Norman) povre, poure (Modern French pauvre), from Latin pauper from Old Latin *pavo-pars (“getting little”) from Proto-Indo-European *pau- (“smallness”). Cognate with Old English fēawa (“little, few”). Displaced native Middle English earm, poor (from Old English earm; See arm), Middle English wantsum, wantsome (“poor, needy”) (from Old Norse vant (“deficiency, lack, want”), Middle English unlede (“poor”) (from Old English unlǣde, Middle English unweli, unwely (“poor, unwealthy”) (from Old English un- + weliġ (“well-to-do, prosperous, rich”).

Pronunciation

Adjective

poor (comparative poorer, superlative poorest)

  1. With little or no possessions or money.
    We were so poor that we couldn't afford shoes.
  2. Of low quality.
    That was a poor performance.
  3. To be pitied.
    Oh you poor little thing.
  4. Deficient in a specified way.
    Cow's milk is poor in iron.
  5. inadequate, insufficient
    I received a poor reward for all my hard work.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Related terms

Noun

poor (plural only)

  1. (with "the") Those people as a group who have little or no possessions or money.
    The poor are always with us.

Translations

those with no possessions
  • Breton: peorien br(br) m. pl.
  • French: pauvres fr(fr) m. pl.
  • German: Armen de(de) pl.
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 Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked
  • Armenian: աղքատները hy(hy) (aġk’atnerë)
  • Catalan: els pobres
  • Finnish: köyhät fi(fi) pl.
  • Greek: οι φτωχοί (ftokhí) m. pl.
  • Hungarian: szegények hu(hu)

References

  1. ^ Oxford BBC Guide to Pronunciation, Lena Olausson and Catherine Sangster, Oxford University Press, page xvi. Also given as the R.P. form in Get Rid of Your Accent, Linda James and Olga Smith, and English Accents, Arthur Hughes and Peter Trudgill

Statistics

Anagrams

Anglo-Norman

Noun

poor f. (oblique plural poors, nominative singular poor, nominative plural poors)

  1. fear

Limburgish

Etymology

From Walloon porea

Noun

poor m.

  1. leek

 

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