Definition
穷 (qióng) primarily means 'poor, impoverished' in a financial sense, and is the most common everyday word for this. For the 'used up' sense, 光 (guāng) is more colloquial (钱花光了), while 尽 (jìn) is more formal/literary and often pairs with abstract resources (用尽力气). 贫困 (pínkùn) and 贫穷 (pínqióng) are more formal, written synonyms for financial poverty.
adjective
poorimpoverished(as a complement) exhaustedused up
Easily confused
- 窑yáolook-alikekiln (for firing pottery, bricks, or lime)
- 空kònglook-alike(of space) vacant, unoccupied
Examples
- 穷。Tā jiā lǐ hěn qióng.His family is very poor.
- 穷。Tā bǎ qián dōu huā qióng le.He spent all his money and went broke.
- 穷。Tā yuè lái yuè qióng le.He's getting poorer and poorer.
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