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mendicant

Etymology and origin of the English word mendicant

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈmɛn.dɪ.kənt/[1]

Etymology

It comes from Middle English mendicaunt,[2][3] from Old French[4][5] and Latin mendicans, the present participle of mendīcāre “to beg”,[4][2][3][5][6] from mendīcus “beggar”, originally “cripple”,[4][2][3] from menda “fault, physical defect”.[4][2][3] It is related to amend and mend.[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A beggar (1395 in Barnhart; late 14th century in Etymonline; 1474 in the OED).[2][3][7]

Semantic evolution

The adjective was applied to the religious orders that lived entirely on alms, such as the Franciscans, Carmelites and Augustinians (late 15th century; 1547 in the OED).[3][7] An older Middle English word for these orders was mendinant (mid-14th century).[3] The sense “begging, reduced to beggary” is from the 1610s.[3][7] The noun also named a begging friar (1530).[7]

Timeline

  • mid-14th century – mendinant.[3]
  • 1395 – mendicaunt, a beggar.[2]
  • 1470 – adjective.[2]
  • 1530 – a begging friar.[7]
  • 1613 – begging, of a beggar.[7]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Depending on alms for a living; begging.
  2. Of or relating to a beggar.

Noun

  1. A beggar.
  2. (often capitalized) A member of a religious order of friars, such as the Franciscans, originally forbidden to own property and living on alms.

Word family

  • mendicancy
  • mendicity
  • amend
  • mend

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
Cite this entry

“Mendicant.” Etymologically, 11 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/mendicant. Accessed 11 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·