Meanings
alms1
nounalms (plural alms)
- Something given to the poor as charity, such as money, clothing or food.
Alms are distributed from the weekly collection.
2 more examples
She gave $10 weekly to the poor as alms, in an era when $10 was serious money.
c. 1779, Alban Butler, Lives of the Saints St. Antoninus never refused an alms which was asked in the name of God.
ALMS2
proper noun
Alms3
ALMs4
noun
- pluralplural of ALM
Origin
alms · noun
- Ancient Greekἔλεος (éleos)
- Ancient Greekἐλεέω (eleéō)
- Ancient Greekἐλεήμων (eleḗmōn)
- Ancient Greekἐλεημοσύνη (eleēmosúnē)
- Late Latineleēmosyna
- Vulgar Latin*alēmosyna
- Proto-West Germanic*alemōsinā
- Old Englishælmesse
- Middle Englishalmesse
- Englishalms
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”).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Alms · proper noun
- GermanAlms
- EnglishAlms
Borrowed from German Alms, but it could also be a variant of Alm.
More words from German
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans aalmoes
- aalmoessomething given to the poor as charity
Ancient Greek ἐλεημοσύνη
- ἐλεημοσύνη (eleēmosúnē)something given to the poor as charity
Arabic صَدَقَة, خَيْر
- صَدَقَة (ṣadaqa)something given to the poor as charity
- خَيْر (ḵayr)something given to the poor as charity
Bengali ভিক্ষা, খয়রাত
- ভিক্ষা (bhikkha)something given to the poor as charity
- খয়রাত (khoẏorat)something given to the poor as charity
- সদকা (śodoka)something given to the poor as charity
- ভিখ (bhikh)something given to the poor as charity
Bulgarian милости́ня
- милости́ня (milostínja)something given to the poor as charity
Catalan almoina
- almoinasomething given to the poor as charity
Chinese Mandarin 施捨 /施舍, 施捨物 /施舍物
- 施捨 /施舍 (shīshě)something given to the poor as charity
- 施捨物 /施舍物 (shīshěwù)something given to the poor as charity
- 救濟金 /救济金 (jiùjìjīn)something given to the poor as charity
Czech almužna
- almužnasomething given to the poor as charity
Danish almisse
- almissesomething given to the poor as charity
Dutch aalmoes
- aalmoessomething given to the poor as charity
Esperanto almozo
- almozosomething given to the poor as charity
Estonian almus
- almussomething given to the poor as charity
Finnish almu
- almusomething given to the poor as charity
French aumône
- aumônesomething given to the poor as charity
German Almosen
- Almosensomething given to the poor as charity
Greek ελεημοσύνη
- ελεημοσύνη (eleïmosýni)something given to the poor as charity
Hebrew צְדָקָה, נְדָבָה
- צְדָקָה (ts'daká)something given to the poor as charity
- נְדָבָה (n'davá)something given to the poor as charity
Hindi दान, ख़ैरात
- दान (dān)something given to the poor as charity
- ख़ैरात (xairāt)something given to the poor as charity
- भिक्षा (bhikṣā)something given to the poor as charity
- भीख (bhīkh)something given to the poor as charity
Hungarian alamizsna
- alamizsnasomething given to the poor as charity
Icelandic ölmusa
- ölmusasomething given to the poor as charity
Indonesian sedekah, infak
- sedekahsomething given to the poor as charity
- infaksomething given to the poor as charity
- sumbangansomething given to the poor as charity
Irish almsa, déirc
- almsasomething given to the poor as charity
- déircsomething given to the poor as charity
- foighesomething given to the poor as charity
- oirchiseachtsomething given to the poor as charity
Italian elemosina
- elemosinasomething given to the poor as charity
Japanese 施し物, 施し
- 施し物 (hodokoshimono)something given to the poor as charity
- 施し (hodokoshi)something given to the poor as charity
Korean 구호금, 의연금
- 구호금 (guhogeum)something given to the poor as charity
- 의연금 (uiyeon'geum)something given to the poor as charity
Latin stips, eleēmosyna
- stipssomething given to the poor as charity
- eleēmosynasomething given to the poor as charity
Latvian dāvanas
- dāvanassomething given to the poor as charity
Lithuanian išmalda
- išmaldasomething given to the poor as charity
Malay sedekah
- sedekahsomething given to the poor as charity
Māori moni aroha, koha aroha
- moni arohasomething given to the poor as charity
- koha arohasomething given to the poor as charity
Norwegian Bokmål almisse
- almissesomething given to the poor as charity
Persian صدقه, تسک
- صدقه (sadaqe)something given to the poor as charity
- تسک (task)something given to the poor as charity
- خیر (xeyr)something given to the poor as charity
Polish jałmużna
- jałmużnasomething given to the poor as charity
Portuguese esmola
- esmolasomething given to the poor as charity
Punjabi ਭਿੱਖ, بھِکّھ
- ਭਿੱਖ (bhikkha)something given to the poor as charity
- بھِکّھ (bhikkh)something given to the poor as charity
Romanian pomană, milostenie
- pomanăsomething given to the poor as charity
- milosteniesomething given to the poor as charity
Russian ми́лостыня, подая́ние
- ми́лостыня (mílostynja)something given to the poor as charity
- подая́ние (podajánije)something given to the poor as charity
Slovak almužna, milodar
- almužnasomething given to the poor as charity
- milodarsomething given to the poor as charity
Spanish limosna
- limosnasomething given to the poor as charity
Swahili sadaka
- sadakasomething given to the poor as charity
Swedish allmosa
- allmosasomething given to the poor as charity
Tagalog limos
- limossomething given to the poor as charity
Tamil அளி
- அளி (aḷi)something given to the poor as charity
Thai ทาน, ไทยทาน
- ทาน (taan)something given to the poor as charity
- ไทยทานsomething given to the poor as charity
Turkish sadaka, zekât
- sadakasomething given to the poor as charity
- zekâtsomething given to the poor as charity
Ukrainian ми́лостиня
- ми́лостиня (mýlostynja)something given to the poor as charity
Urdu صدقہ, خیرات
- صدقہ (sadaqa)something given to the poor as charity
- خیرات (xairāt)something given to the poor as charity
- بِھیک (bhīk)something given to the poor as charity
Vietnamese của bố thí, chẩn
- của bố thísomething given to the poor as charity
- chẩnsomething given to the poor as charity
Yiddish צדקה
- צדקה (tsedoke)something given to the poor as charity
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with alms
All rhymes →Sounds the same
arms (most non-rhotic accents)
Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
alms. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/alms
MLA
“alms.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/alms. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “alms,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/alms.
Source: alms on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.