errant
UK /ˈɛɹ(ə)nt/ · US /ˈɛɹənt/ adjective, noun
Also a form of arrant
Forms errants arrant erraunt
- adjective Straying from the proper course or standard, or outside established limits.
- adjective Roving around; wandering.
- adjective Prone to erring or making errors; misbehaving. “We ran down the street in pursuit of the errant dog.”
- noun A knight-errant.
Etymology
From Middle English erraunt [and other forms], 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:
* from Vulgar Latin iterāre (compare Late Latin itinerāre, itinerāri (“to travel, voyage”)), from Latin iter (“a route (including a journey, trip; a course; a path; a road)”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ey- (“to go”); and
* from Latin errantem, the accusative feminine or masculine singular of errāns (“straying, errant; wandering”), the present active participle of errō (“to rove, wander; to get lost, go astray; to err, wander from the truth”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ers- (“to flow”).
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Wandering; deviating from an appointed course, or from a direct path; roving.
- adjective Notorious; notoriously bad; downright; arrant.
- noun One who wanders about. [Obs.] Fuller.
Etymology [F. errant, p. pr. fr. OF. errer to travel, LL. iterare, fr. L. iter journey; confused somewhat with L. errare to err. See Eyre, and cf. Arrant, Itinerant.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “errant”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details