Other forms: rascals
A rascal is a mischievous person, spoken of half fondly. Somebody who has done something naughty and got away with it.
The affection is essential, since calling a child a little rascal is nearly a compliment, and calling a grown man one suggests charm as much as dishonesty. The word has softened over centuries, having once meant a genuinely worthless person. It suits dogs, small children and lovable rogues. Its close relatives are scamp, which is gentler still, and scoundrel, which is a good deal harsher.
1nounrascalA mischievous person, spoken of with some affection.
“The little rascal had eaten the whole tin.”
A rascal was a crowd before it was a person. Middle English rascaile meant the lowest class, or the rabble following an army, from Old French rascaille and perhaps from a word for scrapings and filth.
Vulgar Latin
*rasicō — to scrape
Old French
rascaille — outcast, rabble
Middle English
rascaile — people of the lowest class, rabble of an army
English, today
rascal
Built from
Recorded since c.1330, as Middle English rascaile (“people of the lowest class, rabble of an army”), derived from 12th century Old French rascaille (“outcast, rabble”) (modern French racaille), perhaps from rasque (“mud, filth, scab, dregs”), from Vulgar Latin rasicō (“to scrape”). The singular form is first attested in 1461; the present extended sense of "low, dishonest person" is from early 1586.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA