Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “poverty” come from?

Poverty comes from Old French poverté, from Latin paupertas, derived from Latin pauper with the suffix -tus, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European peh₂w-.

poverty (English): The quality or state of being poor; lack of...

Definitions

  1. The quality or state of being poor; lack of...

Ancestry of “poverty”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Frenchpovertépoverty; poorness
2Latinpaupertās—
3Latin-tās—
4Proto-Indo-European-teh₂tsUsed to form nouns representing state of being
5Proto-Indo-European-teh₂Used to form nouns representing state of being
6Proto-Indo-European-tósCreates verbal adjectives from verb stems

Words derived from “poverty”

  • antipoverty
  • pov
  • nonpoverty
  • poverty-ridden
  • povvo
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -tós →