vagrant

Meaning

Noun

1. (dated) A person who wanders from place to place; a nomad, a wanderer.
2. (specifically) A person without settled employment or habitation who usually supports himself or herself by begging or some dishonest means; a tramp, a vagabond.
3. Vagrans egista, a widely distributed Asian butterfly of the family Nymphalidae.
4. (especially) An animal, typically a bird, found outside its species' usual range.

Adj

1. Wandering from place to place, particularly when without any settled employment or habitation.
2. Of or pertaining to a vagabond or vagrant, or a person fond of wandering.
3. (figuratively) Moving without a certain direction; roving, wandering; also, erratic, unsettled.

Synonyms

vagabond

tramp

wanderer

bum

hobo

wandering

nomadic

homeless

errant

roving

stroller

drifter

aimless

derelict

strolling

stray

houseless

roam

drifting

floating

floater

wandering mendicant

rover

unsettled

wander

planetary

rambling

rangy

rapscallion

recluse

restless

roamer

roaming

rogue

roundabout

satellite

📡

scamp

straggler

traveller

unemployed

circumlocutious

wander aimlessly

moving about

rascallion

clochard

frequently going

having no fixed abode

hobo

astray

bag lady

Translations

vagabondo

vagabundo

Landstreicher

vagabond

Vagabund

αλήτης

zwerver

clochard

vago

barbone

περιπλανώμενος

girovago

vagabonde

dwaalgast

vagebond

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈveɪɡɹənt/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: vagraunt

Cognate with Old French: walcrant

Cognate with Latin: valgus

Cognate with Middle Dutch: walken

Cognate with Old English: wealcan

Cognate with Old High German: walchan

Cognate with Old Norse: valka

In summary

From Late Middle English vagraunt (“person without proper employment; person without a fixed abode, tramp, vagabond”) [and other forms], probably from Anglo-Norman vagarant, wakerant, waucrant (“vagrant”) [and other forms] and Old French walcrant, waucrant (“roaming, wandering”) [and other forms], perhaps influenced by Latin vagārī, the present active infinitive of vagor (“to ramble, stroll about; to roam, rove, wander”). Old French walcrant is the present participle of vagrer, wacrer, walcrer (“to wander, wander about as a vagabond”) [and other forms], from Frankish *walkrōn (“to wander about”), the frequentative form of *walkōn (“to walk; to wander; to stomp, trample; to full (make cloth denser and firmer by soaking, beating and pressing)”), from Proto-Germanic *walkōną (“to roll about, wallow; to full”), *walkaną (“to turn, wind; to toss; to roll, roll about; to wend; to walk; to wander; to trample; to full”),
from Proto-Indo-European *walg-, *walk-, *welgʰ-, *welk-, *wolg- (“to turn, twist; to move”), ultimately from *welH- (“to turn; to wind”).
The English word is cognate with Latin valgus (“bandy-legged, bow-legged”), Middle Dutch walken (“to knead; to full”), Old English wealcan (“to roll”), ġewealcan (“to go; to walk about”), Old High German walchan, walkan (“to move up and down; to press together; to full; to walk; to wander”), Old Norse valka (“to wander”). See further at walk.