impoverished
im·pov·er·ished/ɪmˈpɑvəɹɪʃt/adjective, verb
impoverished is spelled I-M-P-O-V-E-R-I-S-H-E-D: 12 letters and 4 syllables (im·pov·er·ished). It appears 2.2 times per million words in written English, the 18,297th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, impoverished means “Reduced to poverty” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in impoverished?
| Letters | 12: I-M-P-O-V-E-R-I-S-H-E-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4: im·pov·er·ished |
| In writing | 2.2 times per million words; the 18,297th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is impoverished?
Impoverished appears 2.2 times per million words in written English, the 18,297th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce impoverished?
- US /ɪmˈpɑvəɹɪʃt/
- UK /ɪmˈpɒv(ə)ɹɪʃt/
Impoverished has 4 syllables, split im·pov·er·ished in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-impoverished.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of impoverished
- more impoverished comparative
- most impoverished superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does impoverished mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Reduced to poverty.
- 2
Lacking in richness, diversity or health.
The impoverished soil here can not support any crop.
- 3
Having lost a component, ingredient, faculty or feature; rendered poor in some attribute; depleted.
English has an impoverished inflectional system.
- 4
Represented by few species.
The fossil record from this era is impoverished.
verb
- 1
simple past and past participle of impoverish
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Impoverished in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense Reduced to poverty:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | appauvri |
| German | verarmt |
| Portuguese | empobrecido |
| Spanish | empobrecido |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.