mendicity

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

mendicity
    n 1: the state of being a beggar or mendicant; "they were
         reduced to mendicancy" [syn: {beggary}, {mendicancy},
         {mendicity}]

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Mendicity \Men*dic"i*ty\, n. [L. mendicitas: cf. F.
   mendicit['e]. See {Mendicant}.]
   The practice of begging; the life of a beggar; mendicancy.
   --Rom. of R.
   [1913 Webster]