THE FIRST WORD

impecunious

PRONUNCIATION:

(im-pi-KYOO-nee-uhs) 

MEANING:

adjective: Having little or no money.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin im- (not) + pecunia (money), from pecus (cattle). Ultimately from the Indo-European root peku- (wealth), which also gave us fee, fief, fellow, peculiar, impecunious, andpecuniary. Earliest documented use: 1596.

USAGE:

"The children have no mother, and their father is impecunious, so they have embarked on a series of adventurous money-making schemes."
James Wood; The New Curiosity Shop; The New Yorker; Oct 21, 2013.