Where does “indigence” come from?
Indigence comes from Middle English indigence, from Old French indigence, from Latin indigentia, a noun formed with the suffix -ia from Latin egere meaning "to lack" prefixed with in-.
indigence (English): extreme poverty or destitution
Definitions
- extreme poverty or destitution
Ancestry of “indigence”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | indigence | — |
| 2 | Old French | indigence | indigence poverty; lacking |
| 3 | Latin | indigentia | need, want, lack, indigence; nominative neuter... |
| 4 | Latin | indigentem | accusative masculine singular of indigēns;... |
| 5 | Latin | indigēre | — |
| 6 | Latin | indu | Archaic form of in; in, within |
| 7 | Old Latin | endo | in |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | h₁n̥dó | into, inside |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | h₁én | in |