adherent vs hanger-on

adherent

noun
  • A person who has membership in some group, association or religion. 

adj
  • Adhesive, sticking to something. 

  • Having the quality of clinging or sticking fast to something. 

  • Attaching or pressing against a different organ. 

hanger-on

noun
  • Someone who hangs on, or sticks to, a person, place, or service. 

  • An onsetter. 

How often have the words adherent and hanger-on occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )