different between plenty vs affluence

English

Etymology

From Middle English plentie, plentee, plente, from Anglo-Norman plenté, from Old French plenté, from Latin plenitatem, accusative of plenitas (“fullness”), from plenus (“complete, full”), from Proto-Indo-European *pl?h?nós (“full”), from which English full also comes, via Proto-Germanic. Related to the Latin derivatives complete, deplete, replete.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?pl?nti/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?pl?nti/, [?pl???i], [?pl?ni]
  • (pin–pen merger) IPA^(key): [?pl???i], [?pl?ni]
• Rhymes: -?nti
• Homophone: Pliny (pin-pen merger, silent 't')

Noun

plenty (countable and uncountable, plural plenties)

1. A more-than-adequate amount.

   We are lucky to live in a land of peace and plenty.

   • 1798, Thomas Malthus, An Essay on the Principle of Population:

     During this season of distress, the discouragements to marriage, and the difficulty of rearing a family are so great that population is at a stand. In the mean time the cheapness of labour, the plenty of labourers, and the necessity of an increased industry amongst them, encourage cultivators to employ more labour upon their land, to turn up fresh soil, and to manure and improve more completely what is already in tillage

Usage notes

While some dictionaries analyse this word as a noun, others analyse it as a pronoun, or as both a noun and a pronoun.

Synonyms

• abundance
• profusion

Derived terms

Translations

Pronoun

plenty

1. More than enough.

   I think six eggs should be plenty for this recipe.

Usage notes

See the notes about the noun.

Adverb

plenty (not comparable)

1. More than sufficiently.

   This office is plenty big enough for our needs.
2. (colloquial) Used as an intensifier, very.

   She was plenty mad at him.

Translations

Determiner

plenty

1. (nonstandard) much, enough

   There'll be plenty time later for that

2. (nonstandard) many

   Get a manicure. Plenty men do it.

Adjective

plenty (comparative more plenty, superlative most plenty)

1. (obsolete) plentiful
   • 1597, Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part I, Act I, Scene IV:

     if reasons were as plenty as blackberries

   • There are, among the Irish, men of as much worth and honour as any among the English: nay, to speak the truth, generosity of spirit is rather more common among them. I have known some examples there, too, of good husbands; and I believe these are not very plenty in England.

   • 1836, The American Gardener's Magazine and Register, volume 2, page 279:

     Radishes are very plenty. Of cabbages a few heads of this year's crop have come to hand this week, and sold readily at quotations; […]

Translations

Related terms

• plenitude
• plentitude

References

Anagrams

• pentyl

English

Etymology

From Old French affluence, from Latin affluentia.

Only relation to antonym indigence is common Latinate suffix; affluence only acquired sense of wealth in 16th century English and French, while indigent meant “poor” in Latin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?æf.lu.?ns/

Noun

affluence (countable and uncountable, plural affluences)

1. (obsolete) An abundant flow or supply.
2. An abundance of wealth.

3. A moderate level of wealth.

4. An influx.

Synonyms

• richdom
• See also Thesaurus:wealth

Antonyms

• See also Thesaurus:poverty
• indigence

Derived terms

• affluenza

Related terms

• affluent

Translations

French

Etymology

From Latin affluentia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.fly.??s/

Noun

affluence f (plural affluences)

1. crowds
2. abundance

Derived terms

• heure d'affluence

Related terms

• affluent
• affluer

Further reading

• “affluence” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).