dearth

Noun

1. (countable, uncountable) A period or condition when food is rare and hence expensive; famine.
2. (broadly, countable, uncountable) Scarcity; a lack or short supply.
3. (countable, obsolete, uncountable) Dearness; the quality of being rare or costly.

Verb

To cause or produce a scarcity in something.

Pronounced as (IPA)

/dɜːθ/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: derth

Inherited from Old English: *dīerþ

Cognate with Old Saxon: diuriða

Cognate with Western Frisian: djoerte

Cognate with Dutch: duurte

Cognate with Icelandic: dýrð

In summary

First attested at least as early as the late 1300s, and appearing in Tyndale’s Pentateuch (1530) as well as the Coverdale Bible (1535). From Middle English derth, derthe, derþe, probably from Old English *dīerþ, *dīerþu, from Proto-West Germanic *diuriþu, from Proto-Germanic *diuriþō (“costliness, preciousness, honour”); corresponding to dear + -th (abstract nominal suffix). Cognate with Old Saxon diuriða (“glory, honour; preciousness”), West Frisian djoerte (“love, dearness, value, worth”), Dutch duurte (“dearness; scarcity, dearth”), Icelandic dýrð (“honour, glory”).

Synonyms

scarcity

famine

lack

shortage

deficiency

want

shortcoming

paucity

dearness

dullness

absence

insufficiency

starvation

tediousness

tedium

drought

omission

penury

privation

rareness

rarity

scantiness

shortfall

shortness

wart

poverty

shortage of food

year of drought

default of

decrease

defect

demerit

deprivation

destitution

ellipse

failing

flaw

hole

🕳️

insufficient

limit

little

loss

need

neediness

Translations

pénurie

carestia

Mangel

manque

kıtlık

Hungersnot

famine

hambruna

disette

hongersnood

brak

falta

niedostatek

escassez

scarsità