Etymograph

English

paucity

Paucity comes from Latin paucitās ‘a small number, fewness, scarcity’, from paucus ‘few, little’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂w-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peh₂w-1‘few, small’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peh₂ukos1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*paukos1‘few’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpaucus2‘few, little’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpaucitās2‘a small number, fewness, scarcity’
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600paucité2
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500paucete2
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1650paucity2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin paucus
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English paucity
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1650, Thomas Browne, Of the Cameleon: “It cannot be denied it [the chameleon] is (if…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peh₂w-Wiktionary, Latin paucus‘few, small’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peh₂ukosWiktionary, Latin paucusreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*paukosWiktionary, Latin paucus‘few’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpaucusWiktionary, English paucity‘few, little’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpaucitāsWiktionary, English paucity‘a small number, fewness, scarcity’
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600paucitéWiktionary, English paucity
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pauceteWiktionary, English paucity
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1650paucityWiktionary, English paucity. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1650, Thomas Browne, Of the Cameleon: “It cannot be denied it [the chameleon] is (if…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *peh₂w- ‘few, small’

few, poor, fewer, pose, puppy, pupil, puppet, pause, pediatrics, filly, pedagogy, pave, orthopedics, puerile, posada, menopausal, pupa, 29 more

Today it means

noun Fewness in number; too few.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “paucity”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin paucus. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *peh₂w- / paucity

Shirt and support for this word