Destitute

How to spell destitute

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce destitute

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does destitute mean?

1. adjectiveWithout money, food, shelter, or the other basic necessities of life.

Destitute in a sentence

• The charity provides meals to destitute families across the city.

• After the factory closed, many workers were left destitute and unable to pay rent.

Where does destitute come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin destitutus, the past participle of destituere, a verb that literally meant 'to set down', 'to leave behind', or 'to forsake'. It was formed from the prefix de-, meaning 'down' or 'away', joined to statuere, meaning 'to set up' or 'to place', which is itself rooted in stare, 'to stand'. The original sense was therefore of someone deliberately abandoned or left without support, and only later did the meaning narrow to the modern idea of being utterly without money or the basic necessities of life. English took the word directly from Latin in the late fourteenth century, keeping that -stitute spelling that it shares with relatives such as 'institute', 'constitute', and 'substitute', all of which also trace back to statuere. Remembering that family link helps explain why the middle of the word is spelled -stitute rather than the way it sounds.

How the word is built

• de- (down, away)
• -stitute (from Latin statuere: to set, place), literally 'set down' or 'forsaken'