# dearth

> English word · Noun · IPA /dɜːθ/ · frequency rank #31,948

## Definitions
1. A period or condition when food is rare and hence expensive; famine.
2. Scarcity; a lack or short supply.
3. Dearness; the quality of being rare or costly.

## Etymology
First attested at least as early as the late 1300s, and appearing in Tyndale’s Pentateuch (1530) as well as the Coverdale Bible (1535). From Middle English derth, derthe, derþe, probably from Old English *dīerþ, *dīerþu, from Proto-West Germanic *diuriþu, from Proto-Germanic *diuriþō (“costliness, preciousness, honour”); corresponding to dear + -th (abstract nominal suffix). Cognate with Old Saxon diuriða (“glory, honour; preciousness”), West Frisian djoerte (“love, dearness, value, worth”), Dutch duurte (“dearness; scarcity, dearth”), Icelandic dýrð (“honour, glory”).

## Easily confused with
- **death** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dearth-vs-death)
- **depth** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dearth-vs-depth)
- **deaths** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dearth-vs-deaths)
- **depart** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dearth-vs-depart)
- **Duarte** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dearth-vs-duarte)
- **dear** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dear-vs-dearth)
- **dart** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dart-vs-dearth)
- **dealt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dealt-vs-dearth)
- **darts** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/darts-vs-dearth)
- **Darth** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/darth-vs-dearth)
- **dearly** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dearly-vs-dearth)

## Common misspellings (9)
`daerth`, `ddearth`, `dearht`, `dearrth`, `dearthh`, `deartth`, `deatrh`, `derath`, `edarth`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/dearth