misery

English

/ˈmɪz(ə)ɹɪ/, /ˈmɪz(ə)ɹi/

noun

Definitions

Great unhappiness; extreme pain of body or mind; wretchedness; distress; woe.
(US) A bodily ache or pain.
Cause of misery; calamity; misfortune.
(extreme) poverty.
(archaic) greed; avarice.

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French miserie derived from Latin miseria (misfortune, wretchedness).

Origin

Latin

miseria

Gloss

misfortune, wretchedness

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms

guts English
immiseration English
miseryguts English
miseria Latin
miseria Italian
misère French
miseria Spanish, Castilian
miséria Portuguese
mizeria Polish
miserie Old French
misèria Catalan, Valencian
mizero Ido
mëshirë Albanian
misèria Occitan