Rascal

How to spell rascal

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce rascal

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does rascal mean?

1. nounA person, often a child, who behaves in a mischievous or cheeky but not seriously harmful way.

Rascal in a sentence

• The little rascal hid his sister's shoes behind the sofa.

• That rascal of a contractor charged us twice for the same job.

Where does rascal come from?

Language of origin: French

This word comes from the Old French rascaille, which meant the rabble, the mob, or the lowest of the common people. That term is thought to derive from a Vulgar Latin root rasicare, meaning 'to scrape', so the underlying image was of the scrapings or refuse left behind, applied figuratively to people regarded as worthless. English borrowed it in the fourteenth century, first as a collective word for the common throng and for soldiers of low rank, and then for a single person of dishonest or low character. Over the centuries the harsh, contemptuous edge softened, and by modern times a rascal is usually a cheeky, mischievous person spoken of with a degree of affection rather than disgust. The same Old French rascaille also gives us the now rarer word 'rapscallion', which is essentially a fanciful elaboration of the same idea.

How the word is built

• rascal (from Old French rascaille: rabble), the modern English ending now reads as the noun-forming -al