poverty
/ˈpɑːvɚti/noun
poverty is spelled P-O-V-E-R-T-Y: 7 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 29 times per million words in written English, the 3,218th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, poverty means “The quality or state of being poor; lack of money” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of poverty is poverties.
How many letters and syllables are in poverty?
| Letters | 7: P-O-V-E-R-T-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 29 times per million words; the 3,218th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is poverty?
Poverty appears 29 times per million words in written English, the 3,218th 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 poverty?
- UK /ˈpɒvəti/
- US /ˈpɑːvɚti/
Poverty has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-poverty.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of poverty
- poverties plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does poverty mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The quality or state of being poor; lack of money
get into poverty
- 2
A deficiency of something needed or desired
poverty of soil
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Poverty in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense quality or state of being poor:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | pauvreté |
| German | Armut |
| Portuguese | pobreza |
| Spanish | pobreza, pauperismo, mishiadura, egestad |
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.
Where does poverty come from?
From Middle English poverte, from Old French poverté (Modern French pauvreté), from Latin paupertās, from pauper (“poor”) + -tas (“noun of state suffix”). Cognates include pauper, poor.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).