destitute
/ˈdestəˌtuːt/DEH-stuh-toot
/ˈdɛstəˌtut/DEH-stuh-toot
Meaningset apart, left alone
Common meaning: very poor and without basic needs
- dedown, away, off; undoing
- stitutto stand, be upright or stillLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 1762 · scan
‘down, away, off’ + ‘to stand, be upright or still’ → destitute
Journey through time
- Latindestitutus‘left alone’source
- Englishdestitute‘very poor and without basic needs’ · today
Sources & notes
Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
- No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
- US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
- No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.
Origin: Built on Latin stō ‘to stand, be upright or still’.
Roots
- stō, stetī, statum Latin “to stand, be upright or still”
Related words
circumstanceconstitutivedistantinstanceinstituteintersticeirresistiblenonresistanceobstaclerestitutionstanzastatus
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