penniless

UK/ˈpɛ.nɪ.ləs/US/ˈpɛ.nɪ.ləs/

adjectiveC1Common in everyday speech and writing · #7,634 of 15,258neutral

Penniless means having no money at all. Left penniless, penniless and homeless, arrive penniless.

It is stronger than poor and describes a moment rather than a condition, so people are left penniless by an event. It has a slightly storybook ring and belongs to narrative more than to statistics.

Definitions of penniless

1adjectivepennilessHaving no money at all.C1
“The failure of the bank left him penniless at sixty.”

penniless is a quality.

Where it comes from

Middle English penyles is penny plus -less, with an Old Norse parallel in penningalauss.

Middle English
penyles
English, today
penniless

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

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

penniless in the wild

Set in the early 20th century, the book is a rags-to-riches story of a penniless young man who goes to Hollywood and builds a great film studio.
The Dream Merchants (novel)
The Newport-born author Leslie Thomas wrote of Maesglas: Maesglas was a penniless place everybody called Moscow.
Maesglas
A hobo is a migratory worker or homeless vagabond, often penniless.
Hobo (disambiguation)
The screenplay concerns a penniless Irishman who becomes the business partner of an English aristocrat with a penchant for high-stakes gambling.
The Blarney Stone (film)
The film is about a ghost who, with the help of his father (also a ghost), stops his best friend from leaving his family penniless.
The Cockeyed Miracle

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

penny

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