different between panhandler vs vagrant

English

Etymology

Obscure. Speculative. Panhandling always seems to involve a container for receiving loose change, so perhaps the term refers to a small handled pan, or to the container as the pan and the arm(s) holding it as the handle.

Alternatively, possibly from the notion that the shape of one's outstretched arm in relation to a seated or squatting beggar brings to mind the image of a panhandle.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?pæn.hænd.l?(?)/

Noun

panhandler (plural panhandlers)

1. One who panhandles; an urban beggar who typically stands on a street with an outstretched container in hand, begging for loose change or money.

Translations

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /?ve????nt/
• Hyphenation: va?grant

Etymology 1

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 vag?r?, 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 *walkr?n (“to wander about”), the frequentative form of *walk?n (“to walk; to wander; to stomp, trample; to full (make cloth denser and firmer by soaking, beating and pressing)”), from Proto-Germanic *walk?n? (“to roll about, wallow; to full”), *walkan? (“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-, *welg?-, *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”), ?ewealcan (“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.

Noun

vagrant (plural vagrants)

1. (dated) A person who wanders from place to place; a nomad, a wanderer.

   Synonyms: itinerant, rover; see also Thesaurus:wanderer

2. (specifically) A person without settled employment or habitation who supports himself or herself by begging or some dishonest means; a tramp, a vagabond.

   Synonyms: drifter, hobo; see also Thesaurus:vagabond
3. Vagrans egista, a widely distributed Asian butterfly of the family Nymphalidae.
4. (biology, especially ornithology) An animal, typically a bird, found outside its species' usual range.

Derived terms

Related terms

• vagary
• vagation

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English vagraunt, vagaraunt (“having no proper employment; having a tendency to go astray or wander; wayward”), from Anglo-Norman vagarant, wakerant, waucrant (“vagrant”) and Old French walcrant, waucrant (“roaming, wandering”); see further at etymology 1.

Adjective

vagrant (comparative more vagrant, superlative most vagrant)

1. Wandering from place to place, particularly when without any settled employment or habitation.

   Synonyms: itinerant, nomadic, peripatetic, vagabond, (obsolete) vagrom, vague
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: inconstant, straggling, straying, vagabond, (obsolete) vagrom, vague, wayward

Translations

Notes

References

Further reading

• vagrancy on Wikipedia.Wikipedia