Etymograph

English

arrant

Arrant comes from Old French errant ‘wandering’, from errer ‘to walk (to)’, and ultimately from Latin errō ‘to wander, rove, stray, roam’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEerrō1as errāre‘to wander, rove, stray, roam’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400errer2‘to walk (to)’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400errant2‘wandering’present participle of errer
  4. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400erraunt2
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500erraunt2
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1569arrant2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Old French errer
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English arrant
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1569, Richard Grafton, Richarde the Seconde: “And if any manner of perſon attempted to moue…”.

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEerrōWiktionary, Old French erreras errāre‘to wander, rove, stray, roam’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400errerWiktionary, English arrant‘to walk (to)’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400errantWiktionary, English arrant‘wandering’present participle of errer
  4. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400errauntWiktionary, English arrant
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500errauntWiktionary, English arrant
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1569arrantWiktionary, English arrant. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1569, Richard Grafton, Richarde the Seconde: “And if any manner of perſon attempted to moue…”

The story

The original sense was sense 3 (‘roving around, wandering’). Due to the word being used to describe disreputable persons who wandered about (for example, arrant knave and arrant thief), it came to be used as an intensifier (sense 1: “complete; downright; utter”) and to have a negative meaning (sense 2: “very bad; despicable”).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₁ers- ‘to flow’

rory, rouse, rishi, 19 more

through Latin errō ‘to wander, rove, stray, roam’

error, erroneous, erratic, errata, 5 more

through Old French errer ‘to walk (to)’

err

through Middle English erraunt

errant, 1 more

Today it means

adj Complete; downright; utter.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “arrant”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Old French errer. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Latin errō / arrant

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