pittance

pittance
    n 1: an inadequate payment; "they work all day for a mere
         pittance"
    

Pittance \Pit"tance\ (p[i^]t"tans), n. [OE. pitance, pitaunce,
   F. pitance; cf. It. pietanza, LL. pitancia, pittantia,
   pictantia; perh. fr. L. pietas pity, piety, or perhaps akin
   to E. petty. Cf. {Petty}, and {Pity}.]
   1. An allowance of food bestowed in charity; a mess of
      victuals; hence, a small charity gift; a dole. "A good
      pitaunce." --Chaucer.
      [1913 Webster]

            One half only of this pittance was ever given him in
            money.                                --Macaulay.
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   2. A meager portion, quantity, or allowance; an
      inconsiderable salary or compensation. "The small pittance
      of learning they received." --Swift.
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            The inconsiderable pittance of faithful professors.
                                                  --Fuller.
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75 Moby Thesaurus words for "pittance":
      ace, alms, alms fee, atom, bit, charity, collection, contribution,
      dab, dole, donation, donative, dot, dram, dribble, driblet, dwarf,
      farthing, fleck, flyspeck, fragment, gobbet, grain, granule, groat,
      hair, half rations, handful, handout, inadequacy, insufficiency,
      iota, jot, little, little bit, mere subsistence, minim, minimum,
      minutiae, mite, modicum, molecule, mote, nutshell, offering,
      offertory, ounce, particle, peanuts, pebble, pinch, point, scrap,
      scrimption, scruple, shoestring, short allowance, short commons,
      small potatoes, smidgen, smitch, speck, spoonful, spot,
      starvation wages, subscription, thimbleful, tiny bit, tithe,
      tittle, trace, trifling amount, trivia, votive offering, whit