meager

Meanings

1. Having little flesh; lean; thin.
2. Poor, deficient or inferior in amount, quality or extent
3. Of a set: such that, considered as a subset of a (usually larger) topological space, it is in a precise sense small or negligible.
4. Dry and harsh to the touch (e.g., as chalk).

1. To make lean.

Etymology

From Middle English megre, from Anglo-Norman megre, Old French maigre, from Latin macer, from Proto-Indo-European *mh₂ḱrós. Akin, through the Indo-European root, to Old English mæġer (“meager, lean”), West Frisian meager (“meager”), Dutch mager (“meager”), German mager, Icelandic magr whence the Icelandic magur, Norwegian Bokmål mager and Danish mager. Doublet of maigre.