Standard Lemma guide

beggary

adj · noun · 6 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈbɛɡəɹi/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

adj

Meaning 1

beggarly

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete

Examples

  • early 1600s, Beaumont and Fletcher (attributed), The Nice Valour, Act V, Scene 3, in The Works of Mr. Francis Beaumont, and Mr. John Fletcher, London: J. & R. Tonson and S. Draper, 1750, Volume 10, p. 359, This is Love’s beggary right, that now is ours, When Ladies love, and cannot shew their Powers.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The state of a beggar; indigence, extreme poverty.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • 1782, Frances Burney, Cecilia, London: T. Payne & Son and T. Cadell, Volume I, Book I, Chapter 9, p. 128, [...] she does not come hither as a beggar, however well the state of beggary may accord with her poverty: she only sollicits the payment of a bill [...]

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

The fact or action of begging.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

Beggarly appearance.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

a solicitation for money or food (especially in the street by an apparently penniless person)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: begging, mendicancy

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: solicitation

6

noun

Meaning 6

the state of being a beggar or mendicant

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • they were reduced to mendicancy

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: mendicancy, mendicity

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: indigence, need, penury, pauperism, pauperization

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English beggar Latin -ia Old French -ieder. Middle English -ie Middle English -y English -y English beggary From beggar + -y.

Across languages

Translations

20 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: нищета (ništeta) — The state of a beggar; indigence, extreme poverty
  • Galician: mendicidade — The state of a beggar; indigence, extreme poverty
  • Italian: accattonaggio — The state of a beggar; indigence, extreme poverty
  • Italian: elemosina — The state of a beggar; indigence, extreme poverty
  • Italian: pitoccheria — The state of a beggar; indigence, extreme poverty
  • Swahili: ufukara — The state of a beggar; indigence, extreme poverty
  • Swedish: armod — The state of a beggar; indigence, extreme poverty
  • Bulgarian: просия (prosija) — The fact or action of begging
  • Dutch: bedelarij — The fact or action of begging
  • Finnish: kerjääminen — The fact or action of begging
  • Galician: pedicha — The fact or action of begging
  • Galician: mendicidade — The fact or action of begging
  • Greek: ζητιανιά (zitianiá) — The fact or action of begging
  • Irish: bacachas — The fact or action of begging
  • Polish: żebractwo — The fact or action of begging
  • Polish: żebranie — The fact or action of begging
  • Polish: żebranina — The fact or action of begging
  • Polish: żebry — The fact or action of begging
  • Swedish: tiggeri — The fact or action of begging
  • Swedish: bettleri — The fact or action of begging