mendicant

From Latin mendīcāns, present participle of mendīcō (“beg”). Compare French mendiant.

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛn.dɪ.kənt/

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mendicant (not comparable)

1. Depending on alms for a living.
2. Of or pertaining to a beggar.
3. Of or pertaining to a member of a religious order forbidden to own property, and who must beg for a living.

mendicant (plural mendicants)

1. 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.

2. A religious friar, forbidden to own personal property, who begs for a living.

• mendicant order

Learned borrowing from Latin mendicans.

• IPA^(key): (Central) [mən.diˈkan]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [mən.diˈkant]
• IPA^(key): (Valencian) [men.diˈkant]

mendicant m or f (masculine and feminine plural mendicants)

1. (religion) mendicant
2. begging

• mendicar

mendicant m or f (plural mendicants)

1. (religion) mendicant
2. beggar

   Synonym: captaire

• “mendicant” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

mendicant

1. gerund of mendicar

mendīcant

1. third-person plural present active indicative of mendīcō