Poverty-Stricken
/ˈpɑːvərti ˈstrɪkən/noun
Afflicted by poverty; extremely poor.
Did you know?This is a compound adjective built from *poverty* plus *stricken*, and *stricken* comes from the old verb *strike*—so the phrase literally frames poverty as something that has *hit* you.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*str̥g- / *strik-
“A root associated with striking, touching, or drawing a line; the ancestry behind words for hitting and marking.”
Old English
OE
strician
“To stroke, strike, or go; an early Germanic ancestor in the semantic field of striking and moving.”
Old English
OE
strican
“To stroke, rub, or move swiftly; later feeding into the sense of striking or passing over.”
Middle English
ME
striken / striken
“Past participle of strike, meaning struck, smitten, or afflicted.”
Middle English
ME
poverte
“Poverty; lack of means, destitution.”
Modern English
English
poverty-stricken
“Severely affected by poverty; desperately poor.”