Peccant

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈpɛk(ə)nt/

Definitions

1. Guilty of wrongdoing or violating a rule, principle, or standard of behavior
2. Involving or marked by a failure to conform to moral or ethical standards
3. Characterized by an act or condition that transgresses a moral or legal rule

Etymology: Its most surprising sense has nothing to do with morality. In medieval medicine, "peccant humours" were the bodily fluids believed to be causing illness, so the word once described something diseased or unhealthy. Moral guilt came later, and it is the sense that survives today. The word goes back to Latin "peccāns," the present participle of "peccō," meaning "to offend" or "to sin," and it reached English through Middle French "peccant," which carried the medical meaning of "unhealthy." The Latin verb itself rests on an ancient root meaning "to fall" or "to stumble," so the idea of sinning began as a kind of misstep. English borrowed the adjective from French and Late Latin, and the noun "peccant," meaning a wrongdoer, was later derived from the adjective.

Synonyms: sinful, wrongdoing, guilty, immoral, transgressing

Antonyms: virtuous, innocent, righteous, moral, good