Meanings
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Tuc[ca]. […] Can thy Author doe it impudently enough? / Hiſt[rio]. O, I warrant you, Captaine: and ſpitefully inough too; he ha's one of the moſt ouerflowing villanous wits, in Rome. He will ſlander any man that breathes; If he diſguſt him. / Tucca. I'le know the poor, egregious, nitty Raſcall; and he haue ſuch commendable Qualities, I'le cheriſh him: […].
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noun
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noun
Thesaurus
Appears in
Simplified etymology
Rascal was borrowed in Middle English from French rascaile. Its earlier history is uncertain, but it may derive from a verb meaning “scrape” or “scratch,” perhaps reflecting the idea of people treated as society’s scrapings. It meant “rogue” from the start, while the milder sense “mischievous or cheeky person” appeared in the early seventeenth century.
Etymology
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.