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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
Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 8 Dec. 2025
Four plays later, in desperation mode, Alabama went for it from deep in its own territory, and a Ty Simpson pass was errant.
—Seth Emerson, New York Times, 7 Dec. 2025
Even better, this one doubles as a mop when need be, so errant spills and smears are handled swiftly.
—Isabel Garcia, PEOPLE, 2 Dec. 2025
In the 79th minute, Duah was harried into an errant pass.
—Tom Krasovic, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 Dec. 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 15 Dec. 2025.
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errant
adjective
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