c. 1200, "to repair" (clothes, a tool, a building), "remove defects" (from something broken, defaced, deranged, or worn), from a shortened form of Old French amender "correct, set right, make better, improve" (see amend). Meaning "to put right, atone for (faults and errors), amend (one's life), repent" is from c. 1300. Intransitive sense of "to grow better, improve" is from late 14c. Related: Mended; mending.

1580s, "capable of correction or repair;" see amend + -able. Related: Amendability.

early 13c., "betterment, improvement;" c. 1300, of persons, "correction, reformation," from Old French amendement "rectification, correction; advancement, improvement," from amender "to amend" (see amend). The sense expanded 17c. to include "correction of error in a legal process" (c. 1600) and "alteration of a writ or bill" to remove its faults (1690s).

early 14c., "recompense, compensation for loss or injury," collective singular, from Old French amendes "fine, penalty, reparation, compensation," plural of amende "reparation," from amender "to amend" (see amend).

"remove faults from, alter for the better," c. 1400, from Latin emendare "to free from fault, correct, improve, revise," from assimilated form of ex "out" (see ex-) + mendum (nominative menda) "fault, blemish" (see amend). Related: Emended; emending.

"given to lying, speaking falsely; having the characteristics of a lie, false, untrue," 1610s, from French mendacieux and directly from Latin mendacium "a lie, untruth, falsehood, fiction," from mendax (genitive mendacis) "lying, deceitful," from menda "fault, defect, carelessness in writing," from PIE root *mend- "physical defect, fault" (see amend (v.)). The sense evolution of Latin mendax was influenced by mentiri "to speak falsely, lie, deceive." Related: Mendaciously; mendaciousness.

"practicing beggary, living by alms or doles" (in reference to orders of friars), late 15c., mendicaunt, from Latin mendicantem (nominative mendicans) present participle of mendicare "to beg, ask alms," from mendicus "beggar," originally "cripple" (connection via cripples who must beg), from menda "fault, physical defect," from PIE root *mend- "physical defect, fault" (see amend (v.)).

Meaning "reduced to beggary, begging" is from 1610s. The older word in Middle English in relation to religious orders was mendinant (mid-14c.), from Old French mendinant, present participle of mendiner "to beg," from the same Latin source. The mendicant orders (freurs mendicantes or begging friars, principally the Franciscans, the Carmelites, and the Augustinians) were those religious orders which originally depended for support on the alms they received.

word-forming element, in English meaning usually "out of, from," but also "upwards, completely, deprive of, without," and "former;" from Latin ex "out of, from within; from which time, since; according to; in regard to," from PIE *eghs "out" (source also of Gaulish ex-, Old Irish ess-, Old Church Slavonic izu, Russian iz). In some cases also from Greek cognate ex, ek. PIE *eghs had comparative form *eks-tero and superlative *eks-t(e)r-emo-. Often reduced to e- before -b-, -d-, -g-, consonantal -i-, -l-, -m-, -n-, -v- (as in elude, emerge, evaporate, etc.).