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Errant in Scrabble and Meaning

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What does errant mean? Is errant a Scrabble word?

How many points in Scrabble is errant worth? errant how many points in Words With Friends? What does errant mean? Get all these answers on this page.

Scrabble® and Words with Friends® points for errant

See how to calculate how many points for errant.

Is errant a Scrabble word?

Yes. The word errant is a Scrabble US word. The word errant is worth 6 points in Scrabble:

E1R1R1A1N1T1

Is errant a Scrabble UK word?

Yes. The word errant is a Scrabble UK word and has 6 points:

E1R1R1A1N1T1

Is errant a Words With Friends word?

Yes. The word errant is a Words With Friends word. The word errant is worth 7 points in Words With Friends (WWF):

E1R1R1A1N2T1

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Valid words made from Errant

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6-letter words (2 found)

ERRANT,RANTER,

5-letter words (8 found)

ANTRE,ARRET,EARNT,NARRE,RATER,RERAN,TARRE,TERRA,

4-letter words (18 found)

ANTE,ARET,EARN,ETNA,NARE,NEAR,NEAT,RANT,RARE,RATE,REAN,REAR,RENT,TANE,TARE,TARN,TEAR,TERN,

3-letter words (24 found)

ANE,ANT,ARE,ART,ATE,EAN,EAR,EAT,ERA,ERN,ERR,ETA,NAE,NAT,NET,RAN,RAT,REN,RET,TAE,TAN,TAR,TEA,TEN,

2-letter words (13 found)

AE,AN,AR,AT,EA,EN,ER,ET,NA,NE,RE,TA,TE,

1-letter words (1 found)

E,

You can make 66 words from errant according to the Scrabble US and Canada dictionary.

Definitions and meaning of errant

errant

Etymology

From Middle English erraunt [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman erraunt, from Old French errant, the present participle of errer (“to walk (to); to wander (to); (figuratively) to travel, voyage”), and then:

  • from Vulgar Latin iterāre (compare Late Latin itinerāre, itinerāri (“to travel, voyage”)), from Latin iter (“a route (including a journey, trip; a course; a path; a road)”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ey- (“to go”); and
  • from Latin errantem, the accusative feminine or masculine singular of errāns (“straying, errant; wandering”), the present active participle of errō (“to rove, wander; to get lost, go astray; to err, wander from the truth”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ers- (“to flow”).

Doublet of arrant.

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈɛɹ(ə)nt/
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈɛɹənt/
  • Homophone: arrant (in accents with the Mary–marry–merry merger)
  • Hyphenation: er‧rant

Adjective

errant (comparative more errant, superlative most errant)

  1. Straying from the proper course or standard, or outside established limits.
  2. Roving around; wandering.
  3. Prone to making errors; misbehaving.
  4. (chiefly with a negative connotation, obsolete) Obsolete form of arrant (“complete; downright, utter”).

Usage notes

Although arrant is a variant of errant, their modern meanings have diverged. Arrant is used in the sense “complete; downright; utter” (for example, “arrant knaves”), while errant means “roving around; wandering” and is often used after the noun it modifies (for example, “knight errant”). The use of errant to mean “complete; downright; utter”, and arrant to mean “roving around; wandering”, is obsolete.

Alternative forms

  • arrant (“roving around; wandering”) (obsolete)
  • erraunt (obsolete)

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

errant (plural errants)

  1. A knight-errant.

References

Further reading

  • “errant, arrant”, in Merriam–Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1994, →ISBN, pages 406–407.
  • William Safire (2006 January 22) “On Language: Arrant Nonsense”, in The New York Times Magazine‎[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 8 September 2021.
  • Paul Brians (2009) “arrant/errant”, in Common Errors in English Usage, 2nd edition, Wilsonville, Or.: William, James & Company, →ISBN.
  • “errant”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.

Anagrams

  • Ranter, Ratner, Terran, ranter, terran

Catalan

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): (Central) [əˈran]
  • IPA(key): (Balearic) [əˈrant]
  • IPA(key): (Valencian) [eˈrant]

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin errantem, present active participle of errō.

Adjective

errant m or f (masculine and feminine plural errants)

  1. wandering, roving
    Synonyms: itinerant, errabund
Derived terms
  • cavaller errant
  • jueu errant

Noun

errant m (plural errants)

  1. (zoology) A polychaete worm of the subclass Errantia

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

errant

  1. gerund of errar

Further reading

  • “errant” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

French

Etymology

From Old French errant, from Latin errantem.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /e.ʁɑ̃/

Participle

errant

  1. present participle of errer

Adjective

errant (feminine errante, masculine plural errants, feminine plural errantes)

  1. wandering, stray
  2. errant (clarification of this definition is needed)

Further reading

  • “errant”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

  • rentra

Latin

Verb

errant

  1. third-person plural present active indicative of errō

Old French

Etymology

Present participle of errer (“to wander”), from Latin iterō (“I travel; I voyage”) rather than from errō, which is the ancestor of the other etymology of error (“to err; to make an error”).

Adjective

errant m (oblique and nominative feminine singular errant or errante)

  1. wandering; nomadic

Descendants

  • English: errant
  • French: errant

Source: wiktionary.org