peccancy

P3E1C3C3A1N1C3Y4
UK/ˈpɛkənsi/

noun

A sin or moral transgression.

Scrabble 19

Meanings

nounpeccancy (countable and uncountable, plural peccancies)

plural peccancies

  1. countableA sin or moral transgression.

    For it is then as if our tears broke through an inveterate inner dam, and let all sorts of ancient peccancies and moral stagnancies drain away, leaving us now washed and soft of heart and open to every nobler leaning.

    1902, William James, “Lectures XI, XII, and XIII: Saintliness”, in The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature […] , New York, N.Y.; London: Longmans, Green, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 267
    1 more example

    [T]his distorting of equivocall words, which passeth commonly for a triviall peccancy, if it be well examined, will be found a very dangerous admission; for me thinks this may be termed a verbal adultery, as it vitiateth and corrupts the property of another, which would have remained innocent without that sollicitation, and therefore seemeth much a souler fault, than a single incontinency of our own words.

    1648, Walter Montagu, “Of Scurrility”, in Miscellanea Spiritualia, London: W. Lee, D. Pakeman, and G. Bedell, section 2, page 144
  2. countableuncountableSinfulness.
  3. countablerareuncountableA state of being flawed; faultiness.
  4. countableobsoleteuncountableUnhealthiness.

Origin

  1. Latinpeccantia
  2. Englishpeccancy

From post-classical Latin peccantia, from Latin peccāns, present participle of peccō (“to sin”).

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

peccancy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/peccancy

MLA

“peccancy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/peccancy. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “peccancy,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/peccancy.

Source: peccancy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.