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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.")
Synonyms
Examples of errant in a Sentence
Inkoo Kang, The New Yorker, 15 Apr. 2024
In the sixth, Green was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and advanced to second on an errant pick-off throw.
—Michael Huntley, Orange County Register, 11 Apr. 2024
See all Example Sentences for errant 
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Cite this Entry
“Errant.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/errant. Accessed 5 May. 2024.
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errant
adjective
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