Beggar
/ˈbɛɡ.ər/noun
A person who lives by asking others for money or food.
Did you know?English beggar comes from Medieval Latin begardus/bagardus, tied to the Beguines and Beghards, lay religious communities whose name may ultimately be linked to the same root as a cloth-worker’s term, not to begging itself.
Etymological Timeline
13th Century
Middle English
begger
“A person who asks alms; a pauper”
Medieval Latin
Latin
begardus
“A member of a lay religious brotherhood or sisterhood”
Old French
French
begard
“A Beghard, a member of a religious lay order”
Germanic
Germanic
*beg-
“Likely a root connected with a cloth-worker or wool-shearer term, though the deeper origin is uncertain”
Modern English
English
beggar
“A person who lives by asking for charity”