Money, food, or other help given to poor people as charity.
From Old English 'ælmesse,' derived from Latin 'eleemosyna,' which came from Greek 'eleemosyne' meaning 'compassion.' Originally a religious practice, now a general term for charitable giving.
The word traveled from Greek→Latin→Old English, gaining and losing letters along the way—it started as 'eleemosyne' and got shortened to 'alms,' showing how language compresses words over centuries!
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