An archaic or obsolete word meaning characterized by dearth or scarcity; lacking abundance or plentiful supply.
From 'dearth' (meaning scarcity or lack, from Middle English 'derte' related to 'dear' in the sense of costly/scarce) combined with '-ful' (Old English suffix meaning full of/characterized by).
Medieval English created 'dearthfu' to describe hungry, scarce times—it's extinct in modern speech, but the word captures something real: how our ancestors experienced shortage as a defining characteristic of entire seasons and years.
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