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mendicant. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
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mendicant in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Etymology
From Middle English mendicant, from Latin mendīcāns, present participle of mendīcō (“beg”). Compare French mendiant.
Pronunciation
Adjective
mendicant (not comparable)
- Depending on alms for a living.
- Of or pertaining to a beggar.
- Of or pertaining to a member of a religious order forbidden to own property, and who must beg for a living.
Derived terms
Translations
of or pertaining to a beggar
of or pertaining to a member of a religious order who begs
Noun
mendicant (plural mendicants)
- A pauper who lives by begging.
1856 May, Thomas Hughes, quoting Charles Kingsley, “Prefatory Memoir”, in Charles Kingsley, Alton Locke, Tailor and Poet. , London: Macmillan and Co., published 1876, →OCLC, page lvi:I made £150 by Alton Locke, and never lost a farthing; and I got, not in spite of, but by the rows, a name and a standing with many a one who would never have heard of me otherwise, and I should have been a stercoraceous mendicant if I had hollowed when I got a facer, while I was winning by the cross, though I didn't mean to fight one.
2025 March 3, Howard LaFranchi, “Ukrainians flock to Zelenskyy’s banner, but hope for solution with US”, in The Christian Science Monitor:Across Ukraine, the initial shock over the confrontation, which culminated in President Donald Trump summarily dismissing Mr. Zelenskyy from the White House as if he were some ungrateful mendicant, has subsided.
- A religious friar, forbidden to own personal property, who begs for a living.
Translations
References
Catalan
Etymology 1
Learned borrowing from Latin mendicans.
Pronunciation
Adjective
mendicant m or f (masculine and feminine plural mendicants)
- (religion) mendicant
- begging
Noun
mendicant m or f (plural mendicants)
- (religion) mendicant
- beggar
- Synonym: captaire
Further reading
Etymology 2
Verb
mendicant
- gerund of mendicar
Latin
Verb
mendīcant
- third-person plural present active indicative of mendīcō