Mendicant
/ˈmɛn.dɪ.kənt/noun
A person, especially a member of a religious order, who lives by begging.
Did you know?Mendicant orders like the Franciscans and Dominicans were literally named from the Latin for “begging,” because they renounced property and depended on alms.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*man-
“to think, have in mind”
Latin
Latin
mendicāre
“to beg”
Late Latin
Latin
mendicāns
“begging”
Old French
Old French
mendicant
“begging, a beggar”
14th Century
English
mendicant
“a beggar; especially a member of a begging religious order”
Modern English
English
mendicant
“a person, especially a friar, who lives by begging”