different between poor vs thin

English

Etymology

From Middle English povre, povere, from Old French (and Anglo-Norman) povre, poure (Modern French pauvre), from Latin pauper (English pauper), from Old Latin *pavo-pars (literally “getting little”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh?w- (“few, small”). Cognate with Old English f?awa (“little, few”). Doublet of pauper.

Displaced native Middle English earm, arm (“poor”) (from Old English earm; See arm), Middle English wantsum, wantsome (“poor, needy”) (from Old Norse vant (“deficiency, lack, want”)), Middle English unlede (“poor”) (from Old English unl?de), Middle English unweli, unwely (“poor, unwealthy”) (from Old English un- + weli? (“well-to-do, prosperous, rich”).

Pronunciation

• (General Australian, General New Zealand) IPA^(key): /po?/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /p??/, /pu?/, /p??/
• (Indian English) IPA^(key): /?p?(?)?(r)/
• (Received Pronunciation)
  • IPA^(key): /p??(?)/, /p??(?)/
• (US)
  • IPA^(key): /p??/, /p??/
• Rhymes: -??(?), -??(?)
• Homophones: pour, pore (with the pour-poor merger)
• Homophone: paw (in some non-rhotic accents, with the pour-poor merger)

Adjective

poor (comparative poorer, superlative poorest)

1. With no or few possessions or money, particularly in relation to contemporaries who do have them.

   The poor are always with us.

2. Of low quality.
3. Used to express pity.

   • Thanks to that penny he had just spent so recklessly [on a newspaper] he would pass a happy hour, taken, for once, out of his anxious, despondent, miserable self. It irritated him shrewdly to know that these moments of respite from carking care would not be shared with his poor wife, with careworn, troubled Ellen.
4. Deficient in a specified way.

5. Inadequate, insufficient.
   • a. 1686, Benjamin Calamy, Sermon 1

     That I have wronged no Man, will be a poor plea or apology at the last day.

6. Free from self-assertion; not proud or arrogant; meek.

   • Blessed are the poor in spirit.

Usage notes

When the word "poor" is used to express pity, it does not change the meaning of the sentence. For example, in the sentence "Give this soup to that poor man!", the word "poor" does not serve to indicate which man is meant (and so the sentence expresses exactly the same command as "Give this soup to that man!"). Instead, the word "poor" merely adds an expression of pity to the sentence.

Synonyms

• (with no or few possessions or money): See Thesaurus:impoverished
• (of low quality): inferior
• (to be pitied): pitiable, arm

Antonyms

• (with no or few possessions): rich, wealthy
• (of low quality): good
• (deficient in a specified way): rich
• (inadequate): adequate

Hyponyms

Derived terms

• deserving poor
• poorhouse
• undeserving poor

Related terms

Translations

Anagrams

• poro-, roop

Limburgish

Etymology

From Walloon porea.

Noun

poor m

1. leek

Old French

Noun

poor f (oblique plural poors, nominative singular poor, nominative plural poors)

1. fear

English

Etymology

From Middle English thinne, thünne, thenne, from Old English þynne, from Proto-West Germanic *þunn?, from Proto-Germanic *þunnuz (“thin”) – compare *þanjan? (“to stretch, spread out”) – from Proto-Indo-European *ténh?us (“thin”), from *ten- (“to stretch”).

Cognate with German dünn, Dutch dun, West Frisian tin, Icelandic þunnur, Danish tynd, Swedish tunn, Latin tenuis, Irish tanaí, Welsh tenau, Latvian tievs, Sanskrit ??? (tanú, “thin”), Persian ???? (tang, “narrow”). Doublet of tenuis. Also related to tenuous.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???n/
• Rhymes: -?n
• Homophones: tin (with th-stopping), fin (with th-fronting)

Adjective

thin (comparative thinner, superlative thinnest)

1. Having little thickness or extent from one surface to its opposite.

   • Out of spite, the human beings pretended not to believe that it was Snowball who had destroyed the windmill: they said that it had fallen down because the walls were too thin.

2. Very narrow in all diameters; having a cross section that is small in all directions.

3. Having little body fat or flesh; slim; slender; lean; gaunt.

   thin person

4. Of low viscosity or low specific gravity.

   Water is thinner than honey.

5. Scarce; not close, crowded, or numerous; not filling the space.

   The trees of a forest are thin; the corn or grass is thin.

   • Ferrara is very large, but extremely thin of people.

6. (golf) Describing a poorly played golf shot where the ball is struck by the bottom part of the club head. See fat, shank, toe.
7. Lacking body or volume; small; feeble; not full.

   • thin, hollow sounds, and lamentable screams

8. Slight; small; slender; flimsy; superficial; inadequate; not sufficient for a covering.

   a thin disguise

9. (aviation) Of a route: relatively little used.
   • 2016, Hartmut Wolf, ?Peter Forsyth, ?David Gillen, Liberalization in Aviation (page 105)

     In short, we previously found that thin routes benefit from an increase in competition in the Spanish airline market when considering routes that were monopoly routes in 2001.

10. Poor; scanty; without money or success.
    • 1945, Jack Henry, What Price Crime? (page 92)

      Like their friends the "draggers," the "hoisters" or shoplifters are having a thin time these days, […]

Synonyms

• (having little thickness from one surface to its opposite): narrow; see also Thesaurus:narrow
• (very narrow in all diameters): fine
• (having little body fat or flesh): reedy, skinny, slender, slim, svelte, waifish; see also Thesaurus:slender or Thesaurus:scrawny
• (of low viscosity): runny, watery; see also Thesaurus:runny
• (not close or crowded): spaced out, sparse; see also Thesaurus:diffuse
• (not numerous): scant, scarce, slight

Antonyms

• thick

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

thin (plural thins)

1. (philately) A loss or tearing of paper from the back of a stamp, although not sufficient to create a complete hole.
2. Any food produced or served in thin slices.

   chocolate mint thins

   potato thins

Translations

Verb

thin (third-person singular simple present thins, present participle thinning, simple past and past participle thinned)

1. (transitive) To make thin or thinner.
2. (intransitive) To become thin or thinner.

   The crowds thinned after the procession had passed: there was nothing more to see.

3. To dilute.
4. To remove some plants or parts of plants in order to improve the growth of what remains.

Derived terms

• thin out

Translations

Adverb

thin (comparative more thin, superlative most thin)

1. Not thickly or closely; in a scattered state.

   seed sown thin

   • 1623, Francis Bacon, A Discourse of a War with Spain

     Spain is a nation thin sown of people.

Further reading

• thin in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• thin in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• thin at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• Nith, hint

Middle English

Etymology 1

Determiner

thin (subjective pronoun þou)

1. Alternative form of þin (“thy”)

Pronoun

thin (subjective þou)

1. Alternative form of þin (“thine”)

Etymology 2

Adjective

thin

1. Alternative form of thinne (“thin”)

Old Dutch

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *þ?n.

Determiner

th?n

1. thy, your (singular)
2. thine, yours

Inflection

Descendants

• Middle Dutch: dijn
  • Dutch: dijn
  • Limburgish: dien

Further reading

• “th?n”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012

Old High German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ði?n/

Determiner

th?n

1. Alternative form of din

References

1. Joseph Wright, An Old High German Primer, Second Edition

Old Saxon

Etymology 1

From Proto-West Germanic *þ?n.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?i?n/
• (late Old Saxon) IPA^(key): [ði?n]

Determiner

th?n

1. thy, your (singular)
2. thine, yours

Declension

See also

References

1. Köbler, Gerhard, Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, (5. Auflage) 2014
2. Altsächsisches Elementarbuch by Dr. F. Holthausen

Etymology 2

See here.

Determiner

thin

1. instrumental singular masculine/neuter of th?

Welsh

Noun

thin

1. Aspirate mutation of tin.

Mutation