truant

 
Pronunciation: /ˈtruːənt/

noun

  • a pupil who stays away from school without leave or explanation.

adjective

  • (of a pupil) being a truant: truant children
  • wandering; straying: her truant husband

verb

[no object]
  • another way of saying play truant below. if my daughter had been truanting from school I would have been informed

Phrases

play truant

chiefly British (of a pupil) stay away from school without leave or explanation: he often played truant and he usually wrote his own absence notes

Origin:

Middle English (denoting a person begging through choice rather than necessity): from Old French, probably ultimately of Celtic origin; compare with Welsh truan, Scottish Gaelic truaghan 'wretched'