Where does “penury” come from?
Penury comes from Latin penuria, derived from Latin paene meaning "almost," ultimately from Proto-Indo-European peh₁-, expressing the sense of scarcity or near-absence.
penury (English): Extreme want; poverty; destitution; A lack of...
Definitions
- Extreme want; poverty; destitution; A lack of...
Ancestry of “penury”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Latin | penuria | want, need, scarcity |
| 2 | Latin | paene | almost, nearly; scarcely, hardly, barely |
| 3 | Proto-Indo-European | peh₁- | to hate, hurt |