mendigo

See also: mendigó and méndigo

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish mendigo.

Noun

mendigo (plural mendigos)

1. A beggar.
   • 1887, Fanny Chambers Gooch Iglehart, “chapter IX”, in Face to Face with the Mexicans:

     Sitting complacently upon a broken, fallen column, we beheld an object that filled us with horror—an Indian mendigo, a representation in one, of the ancient Aztec, the pobre Mexicano, and the gentleman of the nineteenth century.

Anagrams

• demoing

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /mẽˈd͡ʒi.ɡu/, ( colloquial) /mĩˈd͡ʒi.ɡu/, /mĩˈd͡ʒĩ.ɡu/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /mẽˈdi.ɡu/ [mẽˈdi.ɣu]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /mẽˈdi.ɡu/ [mẽˈdi.ɣu]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /mẽˈdi.ɡu/

• Audio (Brazil (Caipira)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iɡu
• Hyphenation: men‧di‧go

Etymology 1

From Old Galician-Portuguese mendigo, from Latin mendīcus.

Noun

mendigo m (plural mendigos, feminine mendiga, feminine plural mendigas)

1. beggar (person who begs for a living)

   Synonym: pedinte

2. a homeless person

   Synonyms: sem-teto, morador de rua, pessoa em situação de rua

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:mendigo.

Derived terms

• mendigar
• mendigaria

Related terms

• mendicância
• mendicante
• mendicidade

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

mendigo

1. first-person singular present indicative of mendigar

Further reading

• “mendigo”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “mendigo”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2026, →ISBN
• “mendigo”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /menˈdiɡo/ [mẽn̪ˈd̪i.ɣ̞o]
• Rhymes: -iɡo
• Syllabification: men‧di‧go

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old Spanish mendigo, from Latin mendīcus.

Noun

mendigo m (plural mendigos, feminine mendiga, feminine plural mendigas)

1. beggar (person who begs for a living)

   Synonym: limosnero

Related terms

• mendicante

Etymology 2

Verb

mendigo

1. first-person singular present indicative of mendigar

Further reading

• “mendigo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025