penniless

Etymology

From Middle English penyles, penylees; equivalent to penny + -less. Compare Old Norse penningalauss (“penniless”).

adj

  1. Lacking even the smallest amount of money.
    A dollar and a quarter seems a small sum, but if you are absolutely penniless it might as well be a thousand. 1889, Horatio Alger, chapter 10, in Driven From Home

Attribution / Disclaimer All definitions come directly from Wiktionary using the Wiktextract library. We do not edit or curate the definitions for any words, if you feel the definition listed is incorrect or offensive please suggest modifications directly to the source (wiktionary/penniless), any changes made to the source will update on this page periodically.