alms

See also: ALMS, ALMs, and Alms

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Ancient Greek ἔλεος (éleos)

Proto-Indo-European *-eti

Proto-Indo-European *-eyéti

Proto-Indo-European *-esyéti

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁ti

Proto-Indo-European *-yeti

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁yeti

Proto-Indo-European *-yeti

Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti

Ancient Greek -έω (-éō)

Ancient Greek ἐλεέω (eleéō)

Proto-Indo-European *-mṓ

Ancient Greek -μων (-mōn)

Ancient Greek ἐλεήμων (eleḗmōn)

Ancient Greek -συνος (-sunos)

Ancient Greek -σῠ́νη (-sŭ́nē)

Ancient Greek ἐλεημοσύνη (eleēmosúnē)bor.

Late Latin eleēmosyna

Vulgar Latin *alēmosynabor.

Proto-West Germanic *alemōsinā

Old English ælmesse

Middle English almesse

English alms

From Middle English almes, almesse, ælmesse, from Old English ælmesse, from Proto-West Germanic *alemōsinā, a borrowing from Vulgar Latin *alemosyna, from Late Latin eleēmosyna, from Ancient Greek ἐλεημοσύνη (eleēmosúnē, “alms”), from ἐλεέω (eleéō, “to have mercy”), from ἔλεος (éleos, “mercy”). Compare Saterland Frisian Aalmoose (“alms”), Dutch aalmoes (“alms”), German Almosen (“alms”), Catalan almoina (“alms”), Portuguese esmola (“alms”), Galician esmola (“alms”), Spanish limosna (“alms”), French aumône (“alms”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɑːmz/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɑmz/, /ɑlmz/, (obsolete) /æmz/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑːmz, -ɑːlmz
• Homophone: arms (most non-rhotic accents)

Noun

alms (plural alms)

1. Something given to the poor as charity, such as money, clothing or food.

   Hyponym: Maundy money

   She gave $10 weekly to the poor as alms, in an era when $10 was serious money.

   Alms are distributed from the weekly collection.

   • c. 1779, Alban Butler, Lives of the Saints

     St. Antoninus never refused an alms which was asked in the name of God.

Derived terms

• almsdeed
• alms-deed
• alms-fee
• almsfolk
• alms-folk
• almsful
• almsgate
• almsgift
• almsgiver
• almsgiving
• almshouse
• almsland
• almsless
• almsman
• alms penny
• almsroom
• alms tub
• almswoman
• plough-alms
• unalmsed

Related terms

• eleemosynary

Descendants

• Gullah: aa'ms

Translations

something given to the poor as charity — see also charity

• Afrikaans: aalmoes (af)
• Albanian: lëmoshë (sq) f
• Arabic: صَدَقَة (ar) f (ṣadaqa), خَيْر m (ḵayr)
• Armenian: ողորմություն (hy) (oġormutʻyun)
• Azerbaijani: sədəqə
• Bashkir: хәйер (xəyer), саҙаҡа (saźaqa)
• Belarusian: мі́ласціна f (mílascina)
• Bengali: ভিক্ষা (bn) (bhikkha), খয়রাত (bn) (khoẏorat), সদকা (bn) (śodoka), ভিখ (bn) (bhikh)
• Bulgarian: милости́ня (bg) f (milostínja)
• Burmese: ဒါန (my) (dana.)
• Catalan: almoina (ca) f
• Chichewa: sadaka
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 施捨 / 施舍 (zh) (shīshě), 施捨物 / 施舍物 (shīshěwù), 救濟金 / 救济金 (zh) (jiùjìjīn)

• Cornish: alusennow f pl
• Czech: almužna (cs) f
• Danish: almisse c
• Dutch: aalmoes (nl) f
• Dzongkha: སྦྱིན་པ (sbyin pa)
• Emilian: limòśna f
• Esperanto: almozo (eo)
• Estonian: almus (et)
• Finnish: almu (fi)
• French: aumône (fr) f
• Galician: esmola (gl) f
• Georgian: მოწყალება (moc̣q̇aleba)
• German: Almosen (de) n
• Gothic: 𐌰𐍂𐌼𐌰𐌷𐌰𐌹𐍂𐍄𐌹𐌸𐌰 f (armahairtiþa), 𐌰𐍂𐌼𐌰𐌹𐍉 f (armaiō)
• Greek: ελεημοσύνη (el) f (eleïmosýni)

  Ancient Greek: ἐλεημοσύνη f (eleēmosúnē)

• Gujarati: ભીખ f (bhīkh)
• Gullah: aa’ms
• Hebrew: צְדָקָה (he) f (ts'daká), נְדָבָה (he) f (n'davá)
• Hindi: दान (hi) m (dān), ख़ैरात pl (xairāt), भिक्षा (hi) f (bhikṣā), भीख (hi) f (bhīkh)
• Hungarian: alamizsna (hu)
• Icelandic: ölmusa f
• Ido: almono (io)
• Indonesian: sedekah (id), infak (id), sumbangan (id)
• Irish: almsa f, déirc f, foighe f, oirchiseacht f
• Italian: elemosina (it) f
• Japanese: 施し物 (ほどこしもの, hodokoshimono), 施し (ja) (ほどこし, hodokoshi)
• Kazakh: садақа (sadaqa), қайыр (qaiyr), зекет (zeket)
• Khmer: ទាន (km) (tiən)
• Korean: 구호금 (guhogeum), 의연금 (ko) (uiyeon'geum)
• Kyrgyz: садага (ky) (sadaga), кайыр (ky) (kayır), зекет (ky) (zeket)
• Lao: ຂອງທານ (khǭng thān), ຂອງໄຫ້ທານ (khǭng hai thān), ທານ (thān)
• Latin: stips m, eleēmosyna f
• Latvian: dāvanas m
• Lithuanian: išmalda f
• Macedonian: милостина f (milostina)
• Malay: sedekah
• Maltese: limosja f
• Māori: moni aroha, koha aroha
• Marathi: भीक f (bhīk)

  Old Marathi: 𑘥𑘲𑘎 (bhīka)

• Mongolian: өглөг (mn) (öglög), хандив (mn) (xandiv)
• Nepali: दान (dān), भिख (bhikh)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: almisse (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: almisse f

• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: милостꙑн҄и f (milostynʹi)

• Pali: bhikkhā f (specifically food given as alms), dāna n, bhikkhā f
• Pashto: صدقه (ps) f (sadaqá), خير (ps) m (xayr)
• Persian: صدقه (fa) (sadaqe), تسک (task), خیر (fa) (xeyr)
• Polish: jałmużna (pl) f
• Portuguese: esmola (pt) f
• Prakrit: 𑀪𑀺𑀓𑁆𑀔𑀸 f (bhikkhā), 𑀪𑀺𑀘𑁆𑀙𑀸 f (bhicchā)
• Punjabi: ਭਿੱਖ f (bhikkha), بھِکّھ f (bhikkh)
• Quechua: t'itu
• Romanian: pomană (ro) f, milostenie (ro) f
• Russian: ми́лостыня (ru) f (mílostynja), подая́ние (ru) n (podajánije)
• Sanskrit: भिक्षा (sa) f (bhikṣā), दान (sa) n (dāna)
• Scots: aumous
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: мило̀стиња f

  Latin: milòstinja (sh) f

• Slovak: almužna f, milodar m
• Slovene: miloščina f
• Spanish: limosna (es) f
• Swahili: sadaka (sw)
• Swedish: allmosa (sv) c
• Tagalog: limos
• Tajik: садақа (sadaqa), хайр (xayr) (charity)
• Tamil: அளி (ta) (aḷi)
• Tatar: сәдака (tt) (sädaqa)
• Thai: ทาน (th) (taan), ไทยทาน
• Tibetan: སྦྱིན་པ (sbyin pa)
• Tocharian B: pintwāt, yāṣṣu
• Turkish: sadaka (tr), zekât (tr)
• Turkmen: sadaka, haýyr
• Ukrainian: ми́лостиня f (mýlostynja)
• Urdu: صدقہ f (sadaqa), خیرات pl (xairāt), بِھیک f (bhīk)
• Uyghur: سەدىقە (ug) (sediqe)
• Uzbek: sadaqa (uz), xayr (uz)
• Venetan: łimòzina
• Vietnamese: của bố thí, chẩn (vi)
• Yiddish: צדקה f (tsedoke)

Anagrams

• AMLs, masl, salm, M.L.A.s, MSAL, Salm, SLAM, SAML, AMSL, MLAs, MASL, amsl, mals, lams, slam, LAMs, Lams

Swedish

Noun

alms

1. indefinite genitive singular of alm

Anagrams

• mals, smal