pauper

[ paw-per ]

noun

1. a person without any means of support, especially a destitute person who depends on aid from public welfare funds or charity.
2. a very poor person.

pauper

/ ˈpɔːpə /

noun

1. a person who is extremely poor
2. (formerly) a destitute person supported by public charity

Derived Forms

• ˈpauperˌism, noun

Other Words From

• pauper·age pauper·dom noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of pauper¹

1485–95; < Latin: poor

Word History and Origins

Origin of pauper¹

C16: from Latin: poor

Example Sentences

He returned home a pauper without a pension and 50 years later, at 70, chronicled the travails of the War of Independence.

From The Daily Beast

So, the prince in the old saying “eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper” might need to retire.

From The Daily Beast

So congress has excluded not only diseased, criminal, pauper and anarchist immigrants, but also contract and Chinese laborers.

From Project Gutenberg

This woman had three sisters, four brothers, and three uncles, who would have shared with her the pauper's bequest.

From Project Gutenberg

Mr. Royall was too close a man to give a dollar a day to a smart girl when he could get a deaf pauper for nothing.

From Project Gutenberg

Let us take the policy laid down with regard to each phase of the indoor pauper's life.

From Project Gutenberg

There was, of course, to be no alcoholic drink for any class of pauper except by written medical order.

From Project Gutenberg