mendicant

American  

[men-di-kuhnt] / ˈmɛn dɪ kənt /

adjective

1. begging; practicing begging; living on alms.

2. pertaining to or characteristic of a beggar.

---

noun

1. a person who lives by begging; beggar.

2. a member of any of several orders of friars that originally forbade ownership of property, subsisting mostly on alms.

mendicant British  

/ mɛnˈdɪsɪtɪ, ˈmɛndɪkənt /

adjective

1. begging

2. (of a member of a religious order) dependent on alms for sustenance

   mendicant friars

3. characteristic of a beggar

---

noun

1. a mendicant friar

2. a less common word for beggar

Other Word Forms

• mendicancy noun
• nonmendicant adjective

Etymology

Origin of mendicant

1425–75; late Middle English < Latin mendīcant- (stem of mendīcāns ), present participle of mendīcāre to beg, equivalent to mendīc ( us ) beggarly, needy + -ant- -ant

Example Sentences

The Order of the Hermits of St Augustine was established in 1256 when the papacy объединed several hermit groups from central Italy into a single mendicant order.

From Science Daily • Feb. 2, 2026

Joining the Order of Saint Augustine, a mendicant order of the Catholic Church, Mendel was able to spend his life as a monk and therefore not have to worry about his livelihood.

From Salon • Jun. 6, 2023

Clare doesn’t understand why this son of a silk merchant is wandering around like a nutty mendicant, but she recognizes what they have in common and suspects he has much to teach her.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 3, 2021

The mendicant world they wander through — stalked by starvation, illness, prejudice and evil — is all too real to anyone attuned to the predicament of displaced children.

From New York Times • Jan. 5, 2018

Then they set out upon the road again, slumped and cowled and shivering in their rags like mendicant friars sent forth to find their keep.

From "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy