The term mendicant (Latin mendicans, begging) refers to begging or relying on charitable donations, and is most widely used for religious followers or ascetics who rely exclusively on charity to survive. In principle, mendicant orders or followers do not own property, either individually or collectively, and have taken a vow of poverty, in order that all their time and energy could be expended on practicing or preaching their religion or way of life and serving the poor. Many religious orders adhere to a mendicant way of life, including the Catholic mendicant orders, Hindu ascetics, some dervishes of Sufi Islam, and the monastic orders of Buddhism.
Trivia
As a major running gag in the comic book series Groo the Wanderer, the savagely moronic but invincibly cheerful protagonist assumes the term is an insulting epithet, and flies into a homicidal rage whenever addressed by it. Groo constantly ponders the meaning of "mendicant" throughout the series.
