Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Depending on alms for a living; practicing begging.
  • adjective Of or relating to religious orders whose members are forbidden to own property individually or in common and must work or beg for their livings.
  • noun A beggar.
  • noun A member of a mendicant order.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Begging; reduced to a condition of beggary
  • Practising beggary; living by alms or doles: as, a mendicant friar. See friar.
  • noun A beggar; one who lives by asking alms; especially, a member of a begging order or fraternity; a begging friar.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A beggar; esp., one who makes a business of begging; specifically, a begging friar.
  • adjective Practicing beggary; begging; living on alms.
  • adjective (R. C. Ch.) certain monastic orders which are forbidden to acquire landed property and are required to be supported by alms, esp. the Franciscans, the Dominicans, the Carmelites, and the Augustinians.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Depending on alms for a living.
  • adjective Of or pertaining to a beggar.
  • adjective 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.
  • noun A religious friar forbidden to own personal property who begs for a living.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective practicing beggary
  • noun a pauper who lives by begging
  • noun a male member of a religious order that originally relied solely on alms

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin mendīcāns, mendīcant-, present participle of mendīcāre, to beg, from mendīcus, needy, beggar, from mendum, physical defect.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

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

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Examples

  • Historically, orders of friars could not own property, and individual friars were beggars hence the term mendicant, although this was changed insofar as the orders were concerned by the Council of Trent.

    No Uncertain Terms William Safire 2003

  • Historically, orders of friars could not own property, and individual friars were beggars hence the term mendicant, although this was changed insofar as the orders were concerned by the Council of Trent.

    No Uncertain Terms William Safire 2003

  • Historically, orders of friars could not own property, and individual friars were beggars hence the term mendicant, although this was changed insofar as the orders were concerned by the Council of Trent.

    No Uncertain Terms William Safire 2003

  • Historically, orders of friars could not own property, and individual friars were beggars hence the term mendicant, although this was changed insofar as the orders were concerned by the Council of Trent.

    No Uncertain Terms William Safire 2003

  • What I did not know until tonight, whilst reading Downloading Midnight by William Browning Spencer (a so-far excellent cyberpunk novelette) was that mendicant is a real word and not a made-up construct.

    Mendicants Can't Be Choosers 2004

  • What I did not know until tonight, whilst reading Downloading Midnight by William Browning Spencer (a so-far excellent cyberpunk novelette) was that mendicant is a real word and not a made-up construct.

    July 2004 2004

  • That person would merely be known as a mendicant monk or bhikshu.

    Explanation of The Foundation for Good Qualities ��� Session Two: Further Points Concerning a Precious Human Rebirth, and Death and Impermanence Tsenzhab Serkong Rinpoche I 1982

  • One is not to be called a mendicant for his having only renounced his possessions, or for his having only adopted a life of dependence on eleemosynary charity.

    The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 3 Books 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 Kisari Mohan [Translator] Ganguli

  • This was a very serious calamity to the Dominicans, for as they, like the Franciscans, belonged to what were known as the mendicant orders, and depended for their daily bread upon what they could beg, they were reduced to extremity.

    Las Casas 'The Apostle of the Indies' Alice J. Knight

  • jesse smith - a mendicant is a beggar. the buddhist may be a special case in that he does it silently and has a spiffy name for goodwill, but he is doing the same thing.

    Give It Up: The Best Gift is Nothing at All BikeSnobNYC 2009

Comments

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  • Nothing against anyone who willingly practices a mendicant lifestyle for spiritual reasons... but the pragmatist in me has to question the logic of it. It appears to me that it's basically turning oneself into a mooch, which seems like an inherently selfish thing to do. Wouldn't it be better, in theory, to live a life of generosity, sharing what one has earned legitimately through hard work, rather than to leech off of other peoples' labor?

    June 18, 2007

  • 1 year later, limberbellona is agreeing with you

    July 6, 2008

  • I know a person who labours, yet is unpaid for it in a formal way. He therefore relies on his mendicant existence for sustenance. He says this lifesyle is positive for the world because when people see him picking up rubbish beside the road - that's what he does - they are moved to be generous. It is 'love' that motivates such generosity. Therefore he sees that the product of his lifestyle is love, not mooching.

    July 6, 2008