## Etymology
From Latin pietas ('piety; duty') via Medieval Latin pietantia ('allowance of food given to monks') and Old French pitance ('charitable gift; allowance'); into Middle English pittance, now 'a small amount of money'.

## AI Etymology
Pittance comes from Latin pietas ('piety; duty') via Medieval Latin pietantia ('allowance of food given to monks') and Old French pitance ('charitable gift; allowance'); into Middle English pittance, now 'a small amount of money'. In current use it is a noun meaning "a very small or inadequate amount of money, especially paid as wages". That sense is explained by the older material without requiring a speculative semantic step: the inherited or borrowed base supplies the field of meaning, while the English formation fixes its modern role. The history is mainly one of transmission into English, with the older form and sense carried through borrowing or adaptation. For dictionary purposes, the important point is the continuity between the older form, the route into English, and the present lexical sense.

## Topics
- Numbers & Quantity

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pittance

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