indigence

English

Etymology

From Middle English indigence, late 14th century, from Old French indigence (13th century), from Latin indigentia, from indigentem, form of indigēre (“to need”), from indu (“in, within”) + egēre (“be in need, want”).

Only relation to antonym affluence is common Latinate suffix +‎ -ence.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɪndɪd͡ʒəns/

• Audio (Mid-Atlantic US):

  (file)

Noun

indigence (countable and uncountable, plural indigences)

1. Extreme poverty or destitution.

   Synonym: indigency

   Antonym: affluence

   • 2001, Salman Rushdie, Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 4:

     On Professor Solanka’s street, well-heeled white youths lounged in baggy garments on roseate stoops, stylishly simulating indigence while they waited for the billionairedom that would surely be along sometime soon.

Related terms

• indigent

Translations

poverty

• Bulgarian: бедност (bg) f (bednost), сиромашия (bg) f (siromašija)
• Dutch: behoeftigheid (nl) f
• Finnish: varattomuus (fi)
• French: indigence (fr)
• Greek: πενία (el) f (penía), ένδεια (el) f (éndeia)
• Italian: indigenza (it) f
• Latin: indigentia f
• Portuguese: indigência (pt) f
• Russian: бе́дность (ru) f (bédnostʹ), нужда́ (ru) f (nuždá)
• Swahili: ufukara (sw)
• Turkish: fukaralık (tr), yoksulluk (tr)
• Ukrainian: біднота́ (uk) f (bidnotá)

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French indigence, from Latin indigentia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.di.ʒɑ̃s/

Noun

indigence f (plural indigences)

1. indigence

Further reading

• “indigence”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Old French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin indigentia.

Noun

indigence oblique singular, f (oblique plural indigences, nominative singular indigence, nominative plural indigences)

1. indigence (poverty; lacking)

Descendants

• English: indigence
• French: indigence

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (indigence, supplement)