knave

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   dated: a dishonest, deceitful, or unscrupulous man

   The merchant denounced the swindler as a knave who preyed on the trusting.

2. 2
   noun

   historical: the jack in a deck of playing cards

   In the old rules, the knave ranked below the queen.

From Middle English knave and Old English cnafa ('boy, youth, servant'), related to German Knabe. The word shifted from a neutral term for a boy or male servant to a disparaging term for a low or dishonest man; the card sense survives as jack.

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