alimony

English

Etymology

Known since 1655, from Latin alimōnia (“food, support, nourishment, sustenance”) (English aliment, as in alimentary), itself from alere (“to nourish”) + -mōnia (“action, state, condition”).

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /ˈæl.ɪ.mə.ni/
(US) IPA^(key): /ˈæl.ə.moʊ.ni/
Audio (US) (file)

Noun

alimony (countable and uncountable, plural alimonies)

(law) A court-mandated allowance made to a former spouse by a divorced or legally separated person.
Synonym: maintenance
- 1985, Joel Schumacher; Carl Kurlander, St. Elmo's Fire, spoken by Kevin Dolenz (Andrew McCarthy):
  Who won, huh? Nobody. Used to be sex was the only free thing, No longer. Alimony… palimony… it's all financial. Love is an illusion.
The means to support life.

Derived terms

alimonious
alimony drone
palimony
vaginamony

Related terms

aliment
alimentary

Translations

a court-enforced allowance

Arabic: نَفَقَة‎ (nafaqa)
Bulgarian: издръжка (bg) (izdrǎžka)
Catalan: pensió (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 贍養費／赡养费 (zh) (shànyǎngfèi)
Czech: výživné n, alimenty (cs) m pl
Danish: hustrubidrag n
Dutch: alimentatie (nl) f, alimentatiegeld n
Esperanto: nutramono, alimento (eo)
Finnish: elatusapu (fi)
French: pension alimentaire (fr) f
Georgian: ალიმენტი (alimenṭi)
German: Unterhalt (de) m, Alimente (de) pl
Greek: επίδομα διατροφής n (epídoma diatrofís), (colloquial) διατροφή (el) f (diatrofí)
Hebrew: מְזוֹנוֹת‎ (he) m pl (mezonót)
Hungarian: feleségtartás, asszonytartás, házastárstartás, nőtartás, tartásdíj, eltartás (hu)
Irish: ailiúnas m
Italian: alimenti (it) m pl
Japanese: (離婚 (ja) (りこん, rikon)) 扶養料 (ふようりょう, fuyōryō)
Manx: argid scarrey poosee m
Polish: alimenty (pl) m pl
Portuguese: pensão alimentícia f, pensão (pt) f
Romanian: pensie de întreținere (ro) f, pensie alimentară (ro) f
Russian: алименты (ru) m pl (alimenty)
Spanish: pensión alimenticia f, pensión (es) f
Swedish: underhåll (sv)
Thai: ค่าอุปการะเลี้ยงดู (kâa-ùp-bpà-gaa-rá-líiang-duu)
Turkish: nafaka (tr)
Ukrainian: аліме́нти (uk) m pl (aliménty)

the means to support life

Dutch: onderhoud (nl) n, dagelijks brood n, levensonderhoud (nl) n
Finnish: toimeentulo (fi), elanto (fi), elatus (fi)
Greek: τροφεία (el) n pl (trofeía)
Irish: ailiúnas m
Latin: alimonia f
Russian: сре́дства к существова́нию n pl (srédstva k suščestvovániju)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Italian: ^{(please verify)} alimenti (it)
Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 別居扶助料 (bekkyo fujoryō)
Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} alimentacija f
Telugu: ^{(please verify)} మనోవర్తి (te) (manōvarti)

Anagrams

Molniya