errant

== English == === 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”). Doublet of arrant. === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈɛɹ(ə)nt/ (General American) IPA(key): /ˈɛɹənt/ Homophone: arrant (Mary–marry–merry merger) Hyphenation: er‧rant === Adjective === errant (comparative more errant, superlative most errant) Straying from the proper course or standard, or outside established limits. Roving around; wandering. Prone to erring or making errors; misbehaving. (chiefly with a negative connotation, obsolete) Obsolete form of arrant (“complete; downright, utter”). ==== Usage notes ==== 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 The use of errant to mean “complete; downright; utter”, and arrant to mean “roving around; wandering”, is obsolete.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 ==== arrant (“roving around; wandering”) (obsolete) erraunt (obsolete) ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Translations ==== === Noun === errant (plural errants) A knight-errant. === References === === Further reading === “errant, arrant”, in Merriam–Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1994, →ISBN, pages 406–407. William Safire (22 January 2006), “On Language: Arrant Nonsense”, in The New York Times Magazine‎[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 8 September 2021. Paul Brians (2009), “arrant/errant”, in Common Errors in English Usage, 2nd edition, Wilsonville, Or.: William, James & Company, →ISBN. “errant”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN. === Anagrams === Tarren, ranter, Ranter, terran, Terran, Ratner == Catalan == === Pronunciation === IPA(key): (Central) [əˈran] IPA(key): (Balearic) [əˈrant] IPA(key): (Valencia) [eˈrant] === Etymology 1 === Borrowed from Latin errantem, present active participle of errō. ==== Adjective ==== errant m or f (masculine and feminine plural errants) wandering, roving Synonyms: itinerant, errabund ===== Derived terms ===== cavaller errant jueu errant ==== Noun ==== errant m (plural errants) (zoology) A polychaete worm of the subclass Errantia === Etymology 2 === See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form. ==== Verb ==== errant gerund of errar === Further reading === “errant”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007 == French == === Etymology === From Old French errant, from Latin errantem. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /e.ʁɑ̃/ === Participle === errant present participle of errer === Adjective === errant (feminine errante, masculine plural errants, feminine plural errantes) wandering, stray errant (clarification of this definition is needed.) === Further reading === “errant”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012 === Anagrams === rentra == Latin == === Verb === errant third-person plural present active indicative of errō == Old French == === Etymology === 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 === errant m (oblique and nominative feminine singular errant or errante) wandering; nomadic ==== Descendants ==== English: errant French: errant