Error descends from Latin errare ('to wander, go astray'), originally describing physical wandering before it came to mean a mistake of the mind — the metaphor of losing one's way turned literal navigation into abstract judgment.
A mistake, inaccuracy, or deviation from what is correct, expected, or true.
From Old French error, from Latin error ('a wandering, straying, mistake'), derived from errare ('to wander, go astray'). The Latin verb originally described physical wandering — losing one's path — before extending to mental straying, i.e. making mistakes. The Proto-Indo-European root *h₁ers- meant 'to be in motion.' English borrowed the word through
The Latin phrase errare humanum est ('to err is human') was already ancient when Alexander Pope made it famous in English in 1711. But the original Latin meaning of errare was physical — to wander off the road. A Roman who 'erred' was literally lost, not morally wrong. Knights errant were 'wandering' knights, not mistaken ones. The word's shift from feet to mind happened so completely