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From fifth grade on, I worked at our public library. The pay, a pittance, was almost superfluous. All through high school, I looked forward to summer as the time when I could work at the library four or five days a week. I was never a camp counselor, a lifeguard, a scooper of ice cream.
Julia Glass

Meaning of "pittance" in the English dictionary

Dictionary
DICTIONARY
section

ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD PITTANCE

From Old French pietance ration, ultimately from Latin pietās duty.
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Etymology is the study of the origin of words and their changes in structure and significance.
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PRONUNCIATION OF PITTANCE

pittance  [ˈpɪtəns] play
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GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF PITTANCE

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Pittance is a noun.
A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

WHAT DOES PITTANCE MEAN IN ENGLISH?

Pittance

Pittance is a gift to the members of a religious house for masses, consisting usually of an extra allowance of food or wine on occasions such as the anniversary of the donor's death festivals and other similar occasions. The word was early transferred to a charitable donation and to any small gift of food or money.

Definition of pittance in the English dictionary

The definition of pittance in the dictionary is a small amount or portion, esp a meagre allowance of money.

WORDS THAT RHYME WITH PITTANCE


acquittance
əˈkwɪtəns
admittance
ədˈmɪtəns
appetence
ˈæpɪtəns
capacitance
kəˈpæsɪtəns
competence
ˈkɒmpɪtəns
concomitance
kənˈkɒmɪtəns
emittance
ɪˈmɪtəns
hesitance
ˈhezɪtəns
immunocompetence
ˌɪmjʊnəʊˈkɒmpɪtəns
impenitence
ɪmˈpɛnɪtəns
inappetence
ɪnˈæpɪtəns
incompetence
ɪnˈkɒmpɪtəns
inheritance
ɪnˈhɛrɪtəns
intermittence
ˌɪntəˈmɪtəns
latence
ˈleɪtəns
omnicompetence
ˌɒmnɪˈkɒmpɪtəns
penitence
ˈpenɪtəns
precipitance
prɪˈsɪpɪtəns
remittance
rɪˈmɪtəns
transmittance
trænzˈmɪtəns

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE PITTANCE

pits
pitsaw
Pitt
Pitt Street Farmer
Pitt-Rivers
Pitt-Rivers Museum
pitta
pitta bread
pitted
pitter
pitter-pat
pitter-patter
pitting
pittite
pittosporum
Pittsburgh
pituita
pituitaries

WORDS THAT END LIKE PITTANCE

acceptance
acquaintance
advance
amount of substance
assistance
circumstance
Constance
court of first instance
distance
for instance
importance
instance
long-distance
reluctance
repentance
resistance
stance
substance
the distance
the Resistance
walking distance

Synonyms and antonyms of pittance in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

SYNONYMS OF «PITTANCE»

The following words have a similar or identical meaning as «pittance» and belong to the same grammatical category.
synonyms of pittance

Translation of «pittance» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR
online translator

TRANSLATION OF PITTANCE

Find out the translation of pittance to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.
The translations of pittance from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «pittance» in English.

Translator English - Chinese

微薄
1,325 millions of speakers

Translator English - Spanish

pitanza
570 millions of speakers

English

pittance
510 millions of speakers

Translator English - Hindi

देन
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

مبلغ زهيد
280 millions of speakers

Translator English - Russian

гроши
278 millions of speakers

Translator English - Portuguese

ninharia
270 millions of speakers

Translator English - Bengali

সামান্য বেতন
260 millions of speakers

Translator English - French

salaire de misère
220 millions of speakers

Translator English - Malay

Pittance
190 millions of speakers

Translator English - German

Almosen
180 millions of speakers

Translator English - Japanese

わずかな収入
130 millions of speakers

Translator English - Korean

얼마 안되는 수입
85 millions of speakers

Translator English - Javanese

Pittance
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

phần cấp dương
80 millions of speakers

Translator English - Tamil

அடிமாட்டு
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Marathi

विपत्र
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Turkish

bağış
70 millions of speakers

Translator English - Italian

miseria
65 millions of speakers

Translator English - Polish

grosze
50 millions of speakers

Translator English - Ukrainian

гроши
40 millions of speakers

Translator English - Romanian

salariu
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

πενταροδεκάρες
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

honger loon
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

pittance
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

luselønn
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of pittance

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «PITTANCE»

The term «pittance» is regularly used and occupies the 100.472 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.
0
100%
FREQUENCY
Regularly used
53
/100
The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «pittance» in the different countries.
Principal search tendencies and common uses of pittance
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «pittance».

FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «PITTANCE» OVER TIME

The graph expresses the annual evolution of the frequency of use of the word «pittance» during the past 500 years. Its implementation is based on analysing how often the term «pittance» appears in digitalised printed sources in English between the year 1500 and the present day.

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about pittance

EXAMPLES

QUOTES WITH «PITTANCE»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word pittance.
1
Julia Glass
From fifth grade on, I worked at our public library. The pay, a pittance, was almost superfluous. All through high school, I looked forward to summer as the time when I could work at the library four or five days a week. I was never a camp counselor, a lifeguard, a scooper of ice cream.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «PITTANCE»

Discover the use of pittance in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to pittance and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
Thirteenth Century England IX: Proceedings of the Durham ...
Similarly, William d'Aubigny supplied a mark of rent to the same abbey for a pittance on the anniversary of the death of his uncle. Both these grants of the late twelfth century may have been unusual, however, since both were to a house with ...
Michael Prestwich, R. H. Britnell, Robin Frame, 2003
2
Ballads from Manuscripts: Pt. 1. a Poore Mans Pittance, by ...
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.
Frederick James Furnivall, Richard Williams, William Richard Morfill, 2010
3
Living and Dying in England 1100-1540 : The Monastic ...
Picot, Alice 240 pittance, pittances, monastic 10 in corrodies 181 meaning of term 10 at Westminster Abbey 29, 43-4, 46, ... 52, 67; Benfleet pittance 172 n.; breakfast called pittance 1 60 n.; cheese flans called pittance 61 n.; in corrodies 239, ...
Barbara Harvey, 1993
4
This I Cannot Forget: The Memoirs of Nikolai Bukharin's Widow
But if you don't agree, Boris Ivanovich, and think that the archive is in such danger it is impossible to secure its safekeeping, why are you haggling over this pittance? This is a shameful business, shameful!" "But Stalin, too, is clinging to this ...
Anna Larina, 1994
5
The Glass Mountains
“I musttell you,the priceI'm talking about is a pittance. I can see you're a lady whose heart would breakif something happened toherdogs. A most generous and kindhearted lady. Youcan save yourself a greatdeal ofworryby paying a pittance.
Cynthia Kadohata, 2014
6
An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language
But Ducange gives the Late L. pictanlia as a pittance, a portion of food (given to monks) of the value of a picia, which he explains to be a very small coin issued by the counts of Poitiers (moneia comitum Pictavensium). This answers to OF. pile, ...
Walter W. Skeat, 2013
7
No Choice But Freedom: A Novel of Treachery and Triumph in ...
They are – for the most part – unschooled and know no other Skill but what they do for a pittance. no other Skill but what they do for a pittance. no other Skill but what they do for a pittance. no other Skill but what they do for a pittance. no other  ...
Pat Mattaini Mestern, 2006
8
The Poetical Works of Robert Browning
MS prey, — 560 MS Robbed so>Plundered 561 MS []>The sorry pittance>What poor pittance>What daily pittance MS thief to dole,>thief to spare,> plunderer dole, 562 MS Hunted to Rome, <there> to hide head, starve and die, — 563 MS 1868 ...
Robert Browning, Ian Jack, Margaret Smith, 2004
9
The Raptures
My father expensed his youthful life extracting gold from the South African mining sector, For all his toils hegot pittance, He bust up hishealth sweating blood for pittance, After years of relentless exploitation, All my father could accrue was ...
Lebusa Monyooe
10
Synonyms Discriminated: A Dictionary of Synonymous Words in ...
Pittance. Dole, connected with deal, it a portion distributed. Pittance (Fr. pitance, pittance, of much disputed origin ; there is a L. Lat. pietantia, see Littre). The pietantia of the middle ages was the zest or relish given to make the bulk of the fare ...
Henry Percy Smith, 1904

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «PITTANCE»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term pittance is used in the context of the following news items.
1
Jhb street vendors raise money for orphanage
The good Samaritans themselves survive on a pittance. But that hasn't stopped them raising money to buy much-needed supplies for the centre ... «eNCA, Jul 15»
2
Pharma distorts the facts to keep Medicare from negotiating drug …
The rebates obtained by Medicare plan sponsors amount to a pittance. Public Citizen and Carleton showed that the rebates Medicare Part D ... «Philly.com, Jul 15»
3
Media barred in Brisbane as unions rally against Chinese free trade …
"This government thinks we're racist because we do not want Chinese workers coming to this country and being exploited and paid a pittance," ... «Sydney Morning Herald, Jul 15»
4
American Sports Network, primary TV outlet for ODU football, now …
While it's a pittance compared to the huge dollars raked in by bigger leagues such as the ACC and SEC, it's a critical source of revenue for ... «The Virginian-Pilot, Jul 15»
5
Marshall Project stakes out high ground on journalism's slippery slope
... Keller wrote, “There is reason to hope that [Obama] will feel less constrained, that the eight commutations were not just a pittance but, as he ... «Columbia Journalism Review, Jul 15»
6
Analyzing the 2015-16 roster
... manager R.C. Buford expressed excitement that the Spurs were able to pick him from Sacramento for the pittance of a second-round pick. «mySanAntonio.com, Jul 15»
7
God's Masterpiece or the Devil's Bad Joke?
The peasants lose their lands, sold for a pittance, and for a pittance they sell the hands that work it, while shortages send the price of grain ... «Huffington Post, Jul 15»
8
The Folly of Our Ways: Tolerating Costly Duplicitous 'Noise'
... considering that the 'learned' Professor was not convincing in laying bare a credible cost-benefit analysis of the pittance (economic gain) the ... «The Maravi Post, Jul 15»
9
MPs' salaries
... incomes of Premiership footballers, 'celebrities' employed by the BBC, and those who dabble with our money in the city, they are a pittance. «Bournemouth Echo, Jul 15»
10
Labor activist from South Korea's dark past finally finds justice
... who began factory life at age 18 and toiled for a pittance at a factory in the Guro Industrial Complex, a manufacturing base in southern Seoul. «Big News Network.com, Jul 15»

REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Pittance [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/pittance>. Apr 2024 ».
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