Phrase guide

poor as a church mouse

adj · 1 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

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1

adj

Meaning 1

Very poor, to the point of starving or begging; utterly destitute.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: idiomatic, not-comparable

Qualifier: simile

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: poor as a rat, poor as Job, almsless, arm, badly off, bankrupt, beggared, beggarly, boracic, broke, broken, broker than the Ten Commandments, depauperate, destitute, dirt poor, disadvantaged, down and out, down at heel, down on one's luck, down on one's uppers, empty-handed, farthingless, feeling the pinch, flat, goodless, groatless, hard up, impecunious, impoverished, in need, indigent, insolvent, lower-class, moneyless, necessitous, needy, oofless, pauperized, penniless, penurious, pinched, pok kai, poor, poor as a church mouse, possessionless, poverty-ridden, poverty-stricken, shillingless, skint, stone-broke, stony-broke, strapped, stuck, threadbare, unwealthy, wealthless

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Alteration of earlier hungry as a church mouse, from the fact that Catholic and Orthodox priests are called to scrupulously prevent any crumb of the sacrament of Eucharist (the bread which is understood to be Christ's body) from falling on the altar or to the ground, meaning that church mice had no crumbs to feed on. This phrase seems to be a corruption of the even earlier expression “as quiet as a church mouse” from the 1300s.

Across languages

Translations

31 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Breton: paour evel ur razh-iliz — very poor
  • Chinese Mandarin: 一貧如洗 /一贫如洗 (yīpínrúxǐ) — very poor
  • Czech: chudý jako kostelní myš — very poor
  • Danish: fattig som en kirkerotte — very poor
  • Dutch: geen nagel hebben om zijn gat mee af te krabben — very poor
  • Dutch: arm als Job — very poor
  • Dutch: arm als een kerkrat — very poor
  • Finnish: köyhä kuin kirkonrotta — very poor
  • Finnish: rutiköyhä — very poor
  • French: gueux comme un rat d'église — very poor
  • French: pauvre comme Job — very poor
  • Saterland Frisian: äärm as n Säärkenmúus — very poor
  • German: arm wie eine Kirchenmaus — very poor
  • Greek: πάμφτωχος (pámftochos) — very poor
  • Greek: ζάφτωχος (záftochos) — very poor
  • Greek: δεν έχει μία (den échei mía) — very poor
  • Hungarian: szegény, mint a templom egere — very poor
  • Italian: povero in canna — very poor
  • Japanese: 教会のネズミのように貧しい (kyōkai-no nezumi-no yōni mazushii) — very poor
  • Japanese: 非常に貧しい (hijō-ni mazushii) — very poor
  • Norwegian Bokmål: blakk som en kirkerotte — very poor
  • Polish: ubogi jak mysz kościelna — very poor
  • Polish: biedny jak mysz kościelna — very poor
  • Portuguese: paupérrimo — very poor
  • Russian: бе́дный как церко́вная мышь (bédnyj kak cerkóvnaja myšʹ) — very poor
  • Spanish: más pobre que una rata — very poor
  • Swedish: fattig som en kyrkråtta — very poor
  • Swedish: fattig som en råtta — very poor
  • Swedish: fattig som en lus — very poor
  • Vietnamese: nghèo rớt mồng tơi — very poor
  • Walloon: pôve come on rat d' eglijhe — very poor