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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.")
Examples of errant in a Sentence
Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 16 May 2025
The errant driver of a still-unidentified car struck and killed Larry Maxwell, 72, who was found near Sutter Ave.
—Nicholas Williams, New York Daily News, 15 May 2025
The room’s two windows are covered with heavy black shades, lest an errant ray of the rising sun penetrate.
—Amy Virshup, Vulture, 14 May 2025
In the bottom of the second, Hicks hit Trea Turner with an errant 100.9 mph sinker.
—Justice Delos Santos, Mercury News, 17 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for errant
Cite this Entry
“Errant.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/errant. Accessed 22 May. 2025.
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errant
adjective
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