penury vs mendicancy

penury and mendicancy both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
penury	Yes	No	No	No
mendicancy	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, mendicancy is a hyponym of penury; that is, mendicancy is a word with a more specific, narrower meaning than penury:

Other hyponyms of penury include beggary, mendicity.

penury (noun)	mendicancy (noun)
a state of extreme poverty or destitution	a solicitation for money or food (especially in the street by an apparently penniless person)
	the state of being a beggar or mendicant