贫穷 (pín qióng) is a compound noun meaning 'poverty' — the state of lacking sufficient material resources, especially money and basic necessities like food, shelter, or healthcare. Both characters individually carry related meanings: 贫 means 'poor' or 'impoverished', often emphasizing scarcity of wealth; 穷 also means 'poor' or 'destitute', but can additionally imply exhaustion of options or extreme hardship. Together, they reinforce each other to form a formal, literary, and slightly solemn term for systemic or severe poverty — commonly used in news reports, policy discussions, and academic writing, rather than casual speech.

The word frequently appears in collocations such as 贫穷地区 (pínqióng dìqū, 'impoverished areas'), 摆脱贫穷 (bǎituō pínqióng, 'to escape poverty'), or 贫穷线 (pínqióng xiàn, 'poverty line'). While it can describe individuals, it’s more often applied to communities, regions, or socioeconomic conditions. It carries a neutral-to-somber connotation and avoids judgmental overtones — unlike some colloquial terms — making it appropriate for respectful, objective discourse about economic disadvantage.