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  • Noun

mendicant

MEN-di-kuhnt

Context
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As the bard was traveling through the ancient city of Bactria, she saw a surprisingly large number of mendicants who were begging for money. She also saw what appeared to be servants giving those mendicants—people who seek charity—what looked like food fit for a king and several gold pieces each. The bard later learned that most of these mendicants— or those who ask for handouts on a daily basis—traveled from city to city in the hope of gleaning leftovers from great feasts and monetary generosity from monarchs who were in the mood of giving. These traveling mendicants lived hand to mouth by pleading for food during cycles of feast days but also stirred up some resentment among Bactria’s residential beggars who relied on the monarch’s limited generosity.

Quiz: What is a mendicant?

  • He is someone who spends his days wandering the streets.
  • She is someone who mends clothing for a living.
  • He is a person who begs for money.

Memory Hook
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Can't Mend A mendicant can't mend his financial life, and so he has to beg for money.

Examples
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  • [Moondog] also tells Schwartz that he’s comfortable being thought of as a beggar. The radio broadcaster Walter Winchell “calls me a mendicant, but . . . I don’t feel self-conscious or apologetic about begging for a living. — The New Yorker
  • But even as [Washington's subway system] Metro continues along as a public sector mendicant, begging for alms year after year from state and local authorities, it would stand to benefit enormously from the sort of independent oversight to which federal government agencies are subject in the form of an inspector general. — The Washington Post
  • In 1911, the [Chicago police department] had issued its own edict "prohibiting blind mendicants, legless unfortunates and other seekers of alms from exhibiting their misfortunes to the public view," but after World War I ended in 1918, no new ugly laws were passed. Instead, plans were made to help manage veterans' physical and mental care. — Chicago Tribune
  • Legend has it that one day he went out from the palace and for the first time saw poverty, sickness, and death. Overwhelmed by these realities, he renounced his worldly position and became a wandering mendicant, seeking the meaning of life. After years of fasting, begging, and traveling, he sat down under a _bodhi_ tree and sank into a deep meditation lasting 49 days. At last he achieved enlightenment, and Siddhartha became a buddha. — The New York Times

Word Ingredients
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mend fault, defect
-ant being in a state or condition

A mendicant is in “defective” or “wanting” circumstances.

Word Constellation
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Mendicant

Word Variants
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mendicant adj begging; living on charity