beggar

Meaning

Noun

1. A person who begs.
2. A person suffering from extreme poverty.
3. (colloquial, endearing, sometimes) A mean or wretched person; a scoundrel.
4. (UK) A minced oath for bugger.

Verb

1. (transitive) To make a beggar of someone; impoverish.
2. (figuratively, transitive) To exhaust the resources of; to outdo or go beyond.

Synonyms

mendicant

pauper

panhandler

tramp

cadger

moocher

bum

pauperize

suppliant

pauperise

ascetic

poor person

impoverish

almsman

vagabond

sponger

suitor

mumper

leapfrog

master

mooch

needy

outcast

overrun

overstep

pariah

petitioner

poor

prog

ragamuffin

rogue

sing

slave

solicitor

span

stranger

supplicant

surmount

surpass

top

🔝

transgress

transit

travel

unfortunate

villain

🦹‍♂️

beggarman

low-life

wild beasts

engaged worker

poor person who dances for alms

Translations

mendiant

mendigo

Bettler

mendicante

bedelaar

mendigo

accattone

pordiosero

gueux

ζητιάνος

Bettlerin

dilenci

schooier

accattapane

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈbɛɡɚ/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: beggere

In summary

From Middle English beggere, beggare, beggar (“beggar”), from Middle English beggen (“to beg”), equivalent to beg + -ar.
Alternative etymology derives Middle English beggere, beggare, beggar from Old French begart, originally a member of the Beghards, a lay brotherhood of mendicants in the Low Countries, from Middle Dutch beggaert (“mendicant”), with pejorative suffix (see -ard); the order is said to be named after the priest Lambert le Bègue of Liège (French for “Lambert the Stammerer”).