Words / M / General

mendicant

noun/ˈmɛndɪknt/

C1CEFR level
72/100Rarity: rare
FormalRegister

A beggar, or a member of a religious order that lives by alms.

Outside the cathedral a row of mendicants held out cupped hands to the departing congregation.

Similar: beggar, pauper, almsman

Origin: From Latin 'mendicare' (to beg), from 'mendicus' (beggar).

Topic: poverty in General English

Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.

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More general words: poverty