What does mendicity mean?
Mendicity is the condition or practice of making a living by begging, particularly when begging is organized as a recognized social or religious activity. In historical usage, the term can also describe a society’s dependence on alms, charity, and relief from religious institutions. It is associated with the institutions and debates surrounding medieval poverty, where “deserving” and “undeserving” beggars were distinguished and begging was often regulated through licensing, rules, or charitable oversight. The word is formal and relatively uncommon in everyday modern English, but it remains useful in historical, religious, and social-science contexts. Mendicancy is the more familiar contemporary equivalent. Together, these terms describe both an individual strategy of seeking sustenance and the larger social framework that allowed or restricted it.
nounThe state or practice of begging for a living, especially as a religious or social institution. It can also refer to dependence on alms or charitable relief.
- The state or practice of begging for alms.
- Dependence on charitable relief, especially in a historical or religious context.
"The reform movement sought to replace mendicity with organized poor relief and employment."
"Medieval monasteries provided food and shelter to people living in mendicity."
"The charity was intended to relieve temporary hardship rather than support a permanent mendicity."
Usually rare; the singular is far more common.
"The records document several forms of mendicities in the surrounding parishes."
Mendicity names not just the beggar but the whole social system in which begging for a living was organized and recognized.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does mendicity come from?
The word comes through English borrowings from French and Latin, with the central form associated with Latin mendicitas, meaning begging or the state of being a mendicant. Its underlying root is found in Latin mendicare, “to beg,” and in related words such as mendicant and mendicate. The term became especially prominent in discussions of religious orders, charitable practice, and the social organization of begging.
Related word forms
How mendicity is actually used
Chiefly formal, historical, or sociological. In modern English, mendicancy is more usual when referring to begging as a social condition, while mendicity is especially common in discussions of medieval and early modern poverty.
Easily confused with mendicity
Mendicity is the practice or condition of begging for alms, while mendicancy is the more common modern noun for the same idea.