Usage of 穷 (qióng)
The character 穷 primarily means "poor" in the sense of lacking money or resources. It is commonly used to describe financial poverty or scarcity. For example, "家里很穷" means "the family is very poor."
Besides financial poverty, 穷 can also mean "to exhaust" or "to run out of" when combined with other words, such as in "穷尽" (qióngjìn), meaning "to exhaust all possibilities." This usage is more formal and often appears in written or formal spoken Chinese.
Common Collocations
- 穷人 (qióngrén): poor person
- 穷困 (qióngkùn): impoverished, destitute
- 穷尽 (qióngjìn): to exhaust, to use up
Notes
When used alone, 穷 usually refers to poverty. When combined with other characters, it can express the idea of reaching an end or limit. Be careful not to confuse it with similar-sounding words that mean "poor" but have different characters, such as 贫 (pín).
In everyday conversation, 穷 often carries a straightforward meaning related to financial hardship, but in literary or formal contexts, it can have a broader meaning related to exhaustion or depletion.