Etymology
Advertisement

meager (adj.)

late 14c., megre (late 12c. as a surname), "lean, thin, emaciated" (of persons or animals), from Old French megre, maigre "thin" (12c.), from Latin macrum (nominative macer) "lean, thin" (source of Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian magro), from PIE root *mak- "long, thin." Compare emaciate.

Of material things (land, food, etc.) from early 15c. Cognate Germanic words (Old Norse magr "thin," Old High German magar, German mager, Middle Dutch magher, Dutch mager, Old English mæger) come directly from the PIE root via Proto-Germanic *magras and are not from Latin.

Entries linking to meager

*mak- 

*māk-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "long, thin." It forms all or part of: emaciate; macro; macro-; macrobiotic; macron; meager; paramecium. It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Greek makros "long, large," mēkos "length;" Latin macer "lean, thin;" Old Norse magr, Old English mæger "lean, thin."

emaciate (v.)

1620s "cause to lose flesh" (implied in emaciating), from Latin emaciatus, past participle of emaciare "make lean, cause to waste away," from assimilated form of ex "out" (see ex-) + macies "leanness," from macer "thin" (from PIE root *mak- "long, thin"). Intransitive meaning "become lean, waste away" is from 1640s. Related: Emaciated.

updated on December 09, 2018

Advertisement
Advertisement

Dictionary entries near meager

mea culpa

mead

meadow

meadowlark

meadowy

meager

meagerly

meagerness

meagre

meal

mealtime

© 2001-2022 Douglas Harper