pittance

pit·tance /ˈpɪtəns/ noun [singular]

PAY somebody FOR WORKLITTLE/NOT VERYa very small amount of money, especially wages, that is less than someone needs or deserves 微薄的工资；极少的钱 OPP fortune

earn/be paid a pittance

The musicians earn a pittance.

那些乐师收入微薄。

work/be sold for a pittance

The crop was sold for a pittance.

那些庄稼只卖得一小笔钱。

She raised three children on a pittance.

她靠微薄的收入抚养三个孩子。

Examples from the Corpus

pittance• And no wonder new purchases of bond funds are a pittance compared with what people shovel into stock funds.• They expect their staff to work hard, but the wages they pay are a pittance.• You should be prepared to work very hard for a pittance.• He would merely do the job and get a pittance.• He only pays me a pittance.• I could identify by sight just about 500 of its species -- a pittance of its total diversity.• No more than a pittance, really, and it made me glad to think about his disappointment.• In the poorest parts of the country, children work 12-hour days for a mere pittance.• Smith's salary is a mere pittance compared with others in the NBA.• If she was so genteel, she wouldn't have come here for the pittance she's paid.• Jack's only complaint was that the pittance he was paid hardly reflected the responsibility placed upon him.

From Longman Business Dictionary

pittancepit·tance /ˈpɪtəns/ noun [singular]

a very small or unfairly small amount of money

She gets paid a pittance.

Origin pittance

(1200-1300) Old French pitance “piety, pity”, from Latin pietas; → PITY1

pit·tance noun

Chinese

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Corpus