Pauper

Latin adjective pauper means “poor”. The word poor itself comes from this origin. There are several words that remain in the form -pau- or -pov- in English, one of which is poverty. Let’s take a quick look at some more words.

impoverish

Impoverish is composed of the prefix im- (em-) (meaning “to put into”) and the -pov- part, and means “to make poor”. This word is often used in the form “impoverished” as an adjective, just to mean “very poor”. The word poverish also exists in English, chiefly in Scottish, meaning “to make poor” (it seems rare though).

pauper

Exactly the same form pauper¹ remains in English, and refers to “a very poor person”.

depauperate

In the context of biology, depauperate² means “lacking in numbers or variety of species” (e.g. depauperate fauna).