indigent

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English indigent, also indegent,^[2] borrowed from Anglo-Norman indigent and Old French indigent,^{[3][4][5][6][7]} from Latin indigēns (“poor, needy”),^[3][4][8][6] the present participle of indigeō (“to need, lack”),^[3][9][8] from indu (“in”), a by-form of in-,^{[3][6][10][8]} and egeō (“to lack, want”).^[3][9][6] The vowel of the Latin verb weakened in the compound.^[8] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *h₁eǵ-es- (“lack, need”) and compares Old Norse ekla (“lack”),^[9][4][8] and Klein and Merriam-Webster Unabridged add Old High German ekrōdi (“thin, weak”).^[8][10] The Old French adjective is dated to about 1275 and the Anglo-Norman word to about 1360–79,^[3][7] and the OED compares Italian indigente and Spanish indigente.^[3] Barnhart thought it possible that the adjective is a back-formation from indigence, which he dates to about 1385.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Poor, needy, of a person: "But evermore pore and indigent", in the Romaunt of the Rose,^[2][3] in a manuscript from before 1425 and perhaps composed before 1400;^[3][2] Barnhart dates it to probably before 1400 and Etymonline to about 1400.^[4][5] Dictionary.com gives 1350–1400.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The word has meant poverty since its first records, and in the 15th century it spread to other lacks.^[3] Lydgate wrote of an "indigent herte" in someone with chests of gold, perhaps before 1439, a figurative use.^[2][3] In the later 15th century it came to mean wanting in some quality, either alone or with of, as in Caxton in 1490.^[3][12] A use meaning "in need of something" lasted from Puttenham (1589) to the end of the 18th century.^[3][12] Johnson (1755) gave "poor; needy; necessitous" and then "in want; wanting".^[13] The modern dictionaries differ on how hard the poverty is: Merriam-Webster Unabridged says poor but usually not destitute,^[10] while Collins says lacking even necessities.^[14] Since 1832 it has also been a term for those whose hardship qualifies them for official aid, in some jurisdictions.^[3] The noun appeared almost with the adjective, first as a plural for the poor as a class, then from 1563 for one poor person.^[3][5]

Timeline

• c. 1400 – of a person, poor, needy.^[2][3][5]
• c. 1422 – noun, the indigent, the poor as a class, in Hoccleve.^[3]
• c. 1425 – of a place or way of life, marked by poverty, in Hoccleve.^[3]
• before 1439 – figurative, destitute, in Lydgate.^[3][2]
• before 1475 – deficient, lacking in some quality.^[3]
• 1490 – destitute of, with of.^[3]
• 1563 – noun, a poor person.^[3]
• 1589 – in need of something (obsolete after 1798).^[3]
• 1832 – poor enough to qualify for official assistance.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Poor or impoverished; lacking the necessities of life: The clinic treats indigent patients at no charge.^{[14][10][6][3]}
2. Poor enough to qualify for official help.^[3]
3. (archaic) Deficient, or wholly lacking in something: indigent of ideas.^[14][10][6]
4. (obsolete, 1589–1798) In need of something.^[3][12][10]

Noun

1. A poor person; in the plural or with the, poor people as a class.^{[14][10][3][6]}

Word family

• indigently

Related words

• indigence
• indigenous
• indignant

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
8. ^ a b c d e f Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
12. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins