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Errant has a split history. It comes from Anglo-French, a language in which two confusingly similar verbs with identical spellings ("errer") coexisted. One errer meant "to err" and comes from the Latin errare, meaning "to wander" or "to err." The second errer meant "to travel," and traces to the Latin iter, meaning "road" or "journey." Both "errer" homographs contributed to the development of "errant," which not surprisingly has to do with both moving about and being mistaken. A "knight-errant" travels around in search of adventures. Cowboys round up "errant calves." An "errant child" is one who misbehaves. (You might also see "arrant" occasionally - it's a word that originated as an alteration of "errant" and that usually means "extreme" or "shameless.")
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Examples of errant in a Sentence
Robert Lang, Deadline, 23 Dec. 2024
How about putting the user of digital payments systems 100% on the hook for their errant money transfers?
—John Tamny, Forbes, 20 Dec. 2024
Perhaps more concerning than the final score was an errant puck that appeared to hit mainstay defenseman Brock Faber in the face in the final minute of the game.
—Jess Myers, Twin Cities, 19 Dec. 2024
The glass tubes are easily broken, whether by an errant toss of a ball or the corner of a box truck that backs up carelessly, and have to be replicated by hand.
—Christopher Bonanos, Curbed, 17 Dec. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Errant.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/errant. Accessed 10 Jan. 2025.
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errant
adjective
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