knavish

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   dishonest, deceitful, or unscrupulous

   The knavish broker concealed the fees until the contract was signed.

2. 2
   adj

   mischievously roguish or impertinent, especially in literary use

   A knavish grin spread across the boy's face as he hid the key.

From Middle English knavyssh or knavish, formed from knave + -ish. Knave once meant a boy or servant, but its later sense of a dishonest man gave knavish its usual moral force.

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