rascal

Meanings

Noun

• A dishonest person; a rogue, a scoundrel, a trickster.
• Sometimes diminutive: a cheeky person or creature; a troublemaker.
• A member of a criminal gang.

Adjective

• Low; lowly, part of or belonging to the common rabble.

Origin

• Recorded since c.1330, as Middle English rascaile, derived from 12th century Old French rascaille (modern French racaille), perhaps from rasque, from Vulgar Latin *rasicō. The singular form is first attested in 1461; the present extended sense of "low, dishonest person" is from early 1586.