mendicant

4 synonyms for mendicant, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.

Noun — A member of a religious order that owns no property and lives on charity, such as a Franciscan or Dominican friar.

Synonyms

Rare, literary or technical

Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.

friar almsman beggar panhandler

Synonyms by Meaning

1. noun religion

A member of a religious order that owns no property and lives on charity, such as a Franciscan or Dominican friar.

“The mendicants arrived barefoot and asked only for bread.”

friar almsman beggar

2. noun formal

A person who lives by begging.

“Mendicants gathered at the cathedral steps each evening.”

beggar panhandler

How to use mendicant

The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.

mendicant order mendicant friar mendicant monk

Formal or historical; calling a modern homeless person a mendicant sounds archaic and distancing.

Etymology

From Latin mendicare 'to beg', from mendicus 'beggar'.

Full origin of mendicant →

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a monk and a mendicant friar?

A monk lives inside a monastery under a vow of stability and the community supports itself, often from its own land. A mendicant friar is deliberately propertyless, moves about preaching, and depends on alms from the public.

Which orders are mendicant orders?

The main ones are the Franciscans, Dominicans, Carmelites and Augustinians. They emerged in medieval Europe as preachers who owned nothing personally or communally.

People also searched

beggar friar almsman panhandler

Nearby words

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