mischievous

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈmɪstʃɪvəs/ UK /ˈmɪstʃɪvəs/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
playfully causing minor trouble; full of harmless pranks

The mischievous child hid his sister's shoes.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · playfully causing minor... naughty playful impish roguishprankishpuckishwayward

Opposites

well-behavedobedient good

Word family

Forms mischievousness

Derived forms mischievouslymischievousness

Related forms mischief achieve chief

Etymology

From Middle English mischievous, from mischief, from Old French meschief ('misfortune'), from meschever ('to come to grief'), from mes- ('wrongly') + chever ('to happen, come to a head'), from chef ('head'), from Latin caput.

meschief Old French caput Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# mischievous

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈmɪstʃɪvəs/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈmɪstʃɪvəs/

## Meanings
1. playfully causing minor trouble; full of harmless pranks

## Examples
- The mischievous child hid his sister's shoes.

## Synonyms
- naughty
- playful
- impish
- roguish
- prankish
- puckish
- wayward

## Antonyms
- well-behaved
- obedient
- good

## Derived Forms
- mischievously
- mischievousness

## Related Forms
- mischief
- achieve
- chief

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: meschief
- Root: caput

## Etymology
From Middle English mischievous, from mischief, from Old French meschief ('misfortune'), from meschever ('to come to grief'), from mes- ('wrongly') + chever ('to happen, come to a head'), from chef ('head'), from Latin caput.

## AI Etymology
Mischievous comes from Middle English mischievous, from mischief, from Old French meschief ('misfortune'), from meschever ('to come to grief'), from mes- ('wrongly') + chever ('to happen, come to a head'), from chef ('head'), from Latin caput. The historical trail runs through Old French meschief and Latin caput. Morphologically, the surface form is analyzable into prefixes, suffixes, compounds, or participial endings that carry part of the history. In modern use it means playfully causing minor trouble; full of harmless pranks. Derived formations include mischievously, mischievousness; related forms include mischief, achieve, chief.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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