mendicant means depending on alms for a living. It carries an Arena rating of 1801, earned across 37 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, mendicant ranks #2,282 of 17,126 for Most Satisfying to Say, #2,757 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words, #2,933 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #4,216 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words.
mendicant is pronounced /ˈmɛn.dɪ.kənt/.
Why “mendicant” is a great word
MENDICANT — [Adjective, Noun] Living by or relating to begging, especially under a religious vow; a beggar or a member of a religious order reliant on alms. From Latin mendīcāns, present participle of mendīcāre ("to beg"), from mendīcus ("beggar"), from mendum ("fault, defect"). First attested in English in the late Middle English period (15th century). Unlike "beggar," whose plea springs from secular need, or "ascetic," whose rigor is often private, a mendicant formalizes destitution into a public, spiritual discipline. It is the coarse wool of the habit worn smooth by countless doorways, the cupped hands held not in desperation but as a sacred vessel, the silhouette moving from town to town owning nothing but the path beneath its feet—a vocation that alchemizes a defect into a testament, finding virtue in sanctioned emptiness.
Etymology
From Middle English mendicant, from Latin mendīcāns, present participle of mendīcō (“beg”). Compare French mendiant.
adj
- 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.
noun
- A pauper who lives by begging.
- A religious friar, forbidden to own personal property, who begs for a living.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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