Vagrant comes from Anglo-Norman vagarant ('wandering'), perhaps from Old French walcrer ('to wander'), later associated with Latin vagārī ('to wander'), from vagus ('roving'). The historical chain includes Anglo-Norman vagarant and Latin vagārī. The quoted older senses, "wandering", "to wander", and "roving", supply the semantic anchors for vagrant. The formation is best read as borrowed: the word vagrant carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a noun, "a person without a settled home or regular work who wanders from place to place". English derivatives include vagrancy; related English forms include vagabond, vagary, vague, and vagile. The result is a noun and adj whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.