What does povero in Italian mean?

What is the meaning of the word povero in Italian? The article explains the full meaning, pronunciation along with bilingual examples and instructions on how to use povero in Italian.

The word povero in Italian means poor, needy, humble, lacking, poor person, peasant dish, poor man's meal, unfortunate person, wretch, poor relation, dirt poor, oh dear!, Arte povera, a poor devil. To learn more, please see the details below.

Listen to pronunciation

Meaning of the word povero

poor, needy

aggettivo (senza mezzi economici)

(adjective: Describes a noun or pronoun--for example, "a tall girl," "an interesting book," "a big house.")
Non aveva la minima idea di cosa significasse essere povero.
He had no idea what it meant to be poor.

humble

aggettivo (umile)

(adjective: Describes a noun or pronoun--for example, "a tall girl," "an interesting book," "a big house.")
I piatti poveri sono spesso tra i più gustosi.
Humble dishes are often the tastiest.

lacking

aggettivo (a cui manca [qlcs])

(adjective: Describes a noun or pronoun--for example, "a tall girl," "an interesting book," "a big house.")
La sua pasta è sempre povera di sale.
Her pasta is always lacking in salt.

poor person

(senza mezzi economici)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
I poveri della città erano in costante aumento.
He left his life of wealth and comfort to live among the poor.

peasant dish, poor man's meal

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

unfortunate person, wretch

sostantivo maschile (figurato (persona disgraziata) (figurative)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

poor relation

(less important or influential)

dirt poor

oh dear!

(exclamation)

(interjection: Exclamation--for example, "Oh no!" "Wow!")
Povero me, ho ancora cento pagine da finire entro domani.
Poor me, I still have a hundred pages to finish for tomorrow.

Arte povera

a poor devil

Let's learn Italian

So now that you know more about the meaning of povero in Italian, you can learn how to use them through selected examples and how to read them. And remember to learn the related words that we suggest. Our website is constantly updating with new words and new examples so you can look up the meanings of other words you don't know in Italian.

Do you know about Italian

Italian (italiano) is a Romance language and is spoken by about 70 million people, most of whom live in Italy. Italian uses the Latin alphabet. The letters J, K, W, X and Y do not exist in the standard Italian alphabet, but they still appear in loanwords from Italian. Italian is the second most widely spoken in the European Union with 67 million speakers (15% of the EU population) and it is spoken as a second language by 13.4 million EU citizens (3%). Italian is the principal working language of the Holy See, serving as the lingua franca in the Roman Catholic hierarchy. An important event that helped to the spread of Italian was Napoleon's conquest and occupation of Italy in the early 19th century. This conquest spurred the unification of Italy several decades later and pushed the language of the Italian language. Italian became a language used not only among secretaries, aristocrats and the Italian courts, but also by the bourgeoisie.