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mendicant

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The definition of a mendicant is a beggar.

(noun)

A person who is begging for money on a street corner is an example of a mendicant.

Mendicant is defined as a person who is prone to begging or who is likely to beg.

(adjective)

A person who is continually pleading for things is an example of a mendicant person.

See mendicant in Webster's New World College Dictionary

adjective

asking for alms; begging
of or characteristic of a beggar
designating or of any of various religious orders whose members originally held no personal or community property, living mostly on alms

Origin: L mendicans (gen. mendicantis), prp. of mendicare, to beg < mendicus, needy: for base see mendacious

noun

a beggar; person who begs for alms
a mendicant friar

Related Forms:

mendicancy noun or mendicity

See mendicant in American Heritage Dictionary 4

adjective

Depending on alms for a living; practicing begging.

noun

A beggar.
A member of an order of friars forbidden to own property in common, who work or beg for their living.

Origin:

Origin: Middle English

Origin: , from Old French

Origin: , from Latin mendīcāns, mendīcant-

Origin: , present participle of mendīcāre, to beg

Origin: , from mendīcus, needy, beggar

Origin: , from mendum, physical defect

Related Forms:

menˈdi·can·cy, men·dicˈi·ty (-dĭsˈĭ-tē) noun

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