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mischief

Etymology and origin of the English word mischief

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Formation
Borrowing
Borrowed from
Old French meschief

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈmɪsˌt͡ʃiːf/, /ˈmɪs.t͡ʃɪf/ (UK); /ˈmɪs.t͡ʃɪf/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It comes from Middle English mischef,[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Old French meschief (“misfortune”),[2][3][4][5] from meschever “to come to grief, end badly”,[2][3][4][5][6] from mes- “badly”[2][3][4] and chever “to happen, come to an end”,[2][3][4] from Vulgar Latin *capare,[2][3][4] from Latin caput (“head”).[2][3][4] It is the opposite of achieve.[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Evil plight or misfortune, trouble or distress, often need or poverty (before 1300).[7][3][4]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has softened over time.[4] In Middle English to be “full of mischief” was to be miserable.[4] From the late 15th century it meant harm caused by some agent (1480),[7][4] and later a person or thing causing harm or annoyance.[5][6] The playful sense, behaviour that causes petty annoyance, is recorded from 1784.[3][4] Mischievous followed a similar path, from “calamitous” (before 1350) to “playfully troublesome” (1676).[3]

Timeline

  • a1300 – misfortune, distress.[7][3]
  • before 1350 – mischievous, calamitous.[3]
  • 1480 – harm done by an agent.[7]
  • 1676 – mischievous, playful.[3]
  • 1784 – playful malice.[3][4]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. Behaviour, especially playful, that causes annoyance or trouble.
  2. A tendency to tease or play pranks.
  3. Harm or damage caused by a person or thing.
  4. A person or thing that causes minor trouble.

Word family

  • mischief-maker
  • mischievous
  • achieve
  • chief

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Mischief.” Etymologically, 15 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/mischief. Accessed 15 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·