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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

peccant.

Of a person, etc.: that commits or has committed an offence or a sin; blameworthy, culpable, offending, sinful, sinning.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈpɛk(ə)nt/General-American, Received-Pronunciation
  1. Of a person, etc.: that commits or has committed an offence or a sin; blameworthy, culpable, offending, sinful, sinning.

    archaic
  2. Of an action or thing: causing offence or sin; offensive, sinful.

    archaic
  3. Especially of humours of the body: diseased, unhealthy; also, causing disease.

    also · archaic · figuratively · historical
  4. Offending a norm, a rule, etc.; defective, faulty, wrong.

    archaic · obsolete
Where this word comes from

The adjective is borrowed from Middle French peccant (“unhealthy”) (modern French peccant), and from its etymon Late Latin peccantis, the genitive singular of peccāns (“offending; sinning, transgressing”, adjective), from Latin peccāns (“wrongdoer”), a noun use of the active present participle of peccō (“to offend; to sin, transgress”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ped- (“to fall; to stumble; to step; to walk”). As regards adjective sense 3 (“diseased, unhealthy”) as used in peccant humours, compare Middle French l'umeur peccante, humeurs peccantes, Old French humeurs pechantes, and Late Latin humores peccantes. The noun is derived from the adjective.

noun/ˈpɛk(ə)nt/General-American, Received-Pronunciation
  1. An offender; also, a sinner.

    archaic · obsolete
Where this word comes from

The adjective is borrowed from Middle French peccant (“unhealthy”) (modern French peccant), and from its etymon Late Latin peccantis, the genitive singular of peccāns (“offending; sinning, transgressing”, adjective), from Latin peccāns (“wrongdoer”), a noun use of the active present participle of peccō (“to offend; to sin, transgress”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ped- (“to fall; to stumble; to step; to walk”). As regards adjective sense 3 (“diseased, unhealthy”) as used in peccant humours, compare Middle French l'umeur peccante, humeurs peccantes, Old French humeurs pechantes, and Late Latin humores peccantes. The noun is derived from the adjective.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.