Plural of dearth; instances of scarcity, shortage, or lack of something needed or wanted.
From Middle English 'derte' or 'derthe', possibly connected to 'dear' in the sense of costly (because scarce things become expensive), plus the plural suffix '-s'.
Historians track 'dearths' of grain across centuries to understand medieval famines—when they write about the 'dearths of 1315-1317,' they're describing how widespread food shortage shaped entire generations and killed millions.
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