errant

[er-uh nt]

adjective

deviating from the regular or proper course; erring; straying.

journeying or traveling, as a medieval knight in quest of adventure; roving adventurously.

moving in an aimless or lightly changing manner: an errant breeze.

Origin of errant

1300–50; Middle English erraunt < Middle French, Old French errant, present participle of errer, edrer to travel < Vulgar Latin *iterāre to journey, for Late Latin itinerārī, derivative of iter, stem itiner- journey (see itinerary); confused with Middle French errant, present participle of errer to err

Related formser·rant·ly, adverbnon·er·rant, adjectivenon·er·rant·ly, adverbun·er·rant, adjectiveun·er·rant·ly, adverb

Can be confusedarrant errant

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

British Dictionary definitions for errantly

errant

adjective (often postpositive)

archaic, or literary wandering in search of adventure

erring or straying from the right course or accepted standards

Derived Formserrantly, adverb

Word Origin for errant

C14: from Old French: journeying, from Vulgar Latin iterāre (unattested), from Latin iter journey; influenced by Latin errāre to err

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for errantly

errant

adj.

mid-14c., "travelling, roving," from Anglo-French erraunt, from two Old French words that were confused even before they reached English: 1. Old French errant, present participle of errer "to travel or wander," from Late Latin iterare, from Latin iter "journey, way," from root of ire "to go" (see ion); 2. Old French errant, past participle of errer (see err). The senses fused in English 14c., but much of the sense of the latter since has gone with arrant.