Wiktionary

errant

English

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Etymology

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From Middle English erraunt [and other forms],[1] from Anglo-Norman erraunt, from Old French errant, the present participle of errer (“to walk (to); to wander (to); (figuratively) to travel, voyage”), and then:[2]

Doublet of arrant.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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errant (comparative more errant, superlative most errant)

  1. Straying from the proper course or standard, or outside established limits.
    • 1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC, 6th book, page 244:
      In that there are just seven Planets or errant Stars in the lower Orbs of heaven: but it is now demonstrable unto sense, that there are many more
    • 1941 October, “Notes and News: A Highland Runaway”, in Railway Magazine, page 469:
      They were all doomed to be disappointed, however, for the errant engine decided at Stanley junction to spend the remainder of its crowded hour of freedom on the Aberdeen line, and finally came to rest, short of breath, in the dip between Ballathie and Cargill, near the bridge over the Tay.
  2. Roving around; wandering.
  3. Prone to err or making errors; misbehaving.
    We ran down the street in pursuit of the errant dog.
  4. (chiefly with a negative connotation, obsolete) Obsolete form of arrant (“complete; downright, utter”).

Usage notes

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Although arrant is a variant of errant, their modern meanings have diverged. Arrant is used in the sense “complete; downright; utter” (for example, “arrant knaves”), while errant means “roving around; wandering” and is often used after the noun it modifies (for example, “knight errant”). The use of errant to mean “complete; downright; utter”, and arrant to mean “roving around; wandering”, is obsolete.

Alternative forms

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  • arrant (“roving around; wandering”) (obsolete)
  • erraunt (obsolete)

Derived terms

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Translations

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Noun

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errant (plural errants)

  1. A knight-errant.

References

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  1. ^ “erraunt, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ “errant, adj. (and n.)”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2022; “errant, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Catalan

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Borrowed from Latin errantem, present active participle of errō.

Adjective

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errant m or f (masculine and feminine plural errants)

  1. wandering, roving
    Synonyms: itinerant, errabund
Derived terms
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Noun

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errant m (plural errants)

  1. (zoology) A polychaete worm of the subclass Errantia

Etymology 2

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See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

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errant

  1. gerund of errar

Further reading

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French

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Etymology

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From Old French errant, from Latin errantem.

Pronunciation

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Participle

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errant

  1. present participle of errer

Adjective

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errant (feminine errante, masculine plural errants, feminine plural errantes)

  1. wandering, stray
  2. errant (clarification of this definition is needed)

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Latin

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Verb

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errant

  1. third-person plural present active indicative of errō

Old French

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Etymology

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Present participle of errer (“to wander”), from Latin iterō (“I travel; I voyage”) rather than from errō, which is the ancestor of the other etymology of error (“to err; to make an error”).

Adjective

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errant m (oblique and nominative feminine singular errant or errante)

  1. wandering; nomadic
    • 12th century CE, Thomas de Kent, Roman de toute chevalerie [Novel of all chivalry], translation of Alexander romance; republished as B. Foster, with the assistance of I. Short, editor, The Anglo-Norman 'Alexander'​, London: Anglo-Norman Text Society, 1976, ANTS 29-31 (1976), and 32-33 (1977):
      si est un pople qe n’est mie erranz; Ja n'istra de son regne
      If it's a people that is not nomadic, it will never leave his kingdom

Descendants

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  • English: errant
  • French: errant
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