noun
Meaning 1
A small allowance of food and drink; a scanty meal.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
pittance
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.
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/ˈpɪtəns/
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[ˈphɪʔn̩s]
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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CMU ARPABET: P IH1 T AH0 N S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
A meagre allowance of money or wages.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
A small amount.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
an inadequate payment
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- they work all day for a mere pittance
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: payment
History
Etymology
From Middle English pitaunce, from Old French pitance, pitence, from Medieval Latin *pietāntia, from Latin pietās (“piety”).
Across languages
Translations
37 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Bulgarian: подаяние (podajanie) — small allowance of food and drink; a scanty meal
- Finnish: mitätön ateria — small allowance of food and drink; a scanty meal
- French: pitance — small allowance of food and drink; a scanty meal
- Galician: pitanza — small allowance of food and drink; a scanty meal
- German: Hungermahlzeit — small allowance of food and drink; a scanty meal
- Italian: pietanza — small allowance of food and drink; a scanty meal
- Polish: resztki — small allowance of food and drink; a scanty meal
- Polish: ostatki — small allowance of food and drink; a scanty meal
- Sicilian: pitanza — small allowance of food and drink; a scanty meal
- Sicilian: muzzucuni — small allowance of food and drink; a scanty meal
- Sicilian: muḍḍica — small allowance of food and drink; a scanty meal
- Bulgarian: оскъдно заплащане (oskǎdno zaplaštane) — meagre allowance of money or wages
- Danish: sulteløn — meagre allowance of money or wages
- Finnish: nälkäpalkka — meagre allowance of money or wages
- Finnish: pikkuraha — meagre allowance of money or wages
- Finnish: pikkusumma — meagre allowance of money or wages
- German: Hungerlohn — meagre allowance of money or wages
- Norwegian: ussel lønn — meagre allowance of money or wages
- Persian: شندرغاز (šenderġâz) — meagre allowance of money or wages
- Portuguese: mixaria — meagre allowance of money or wages
- Russian: скудное жалование (skudnoje) — meagre allowance of money or wages
- Serbo-Croatian: milostinja — meagre allowance of money or wages
- Serbo-Croatian: crkavica — meagre allowance of money or wages
- Serbo-Croatian: сића (sića) — meagre allowance of money or wages
- Swedish: spottstyver — meagre allowance of money or wages
- Finnish: rahtu — a small amount
- Finnish: rahtunen — a small amount
- Finnish: hitunen — a small amount
- German: Almosen — a small amount
- Italian: miseria — a small amount
- Sicilian: anticchia — a small amount
- Sicilian: muḍḍica — a small amount
- Sicilian: stizza — a small amount
- Sicilian: jitu — a small amount
- Spanish: miseria — a small amount
- Spanish: chavería — a small amount
- Turkish: üç kuruş — a small amount