mischievous

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English mischevous,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman meschevous (“troublesome, grievous, needy”),^[5][4][6][7] from meschef (“misfortune”), the source of mischief, and the suffix -ous.^[5] Some dictionaries form it in Middle English instead from mischef and -ous.^[2][3][8] Old French meschief is from meschever (“to come to grief, end badly”), from mes- (“badly”) and chever (“to happen, come to a head”),^[3][8] from Vulgar Latin *capō, from caput (“head”).^[3][8] The Anglo-Norman adjective is recorded from 1376.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of an event, unfortunate or disastrous; of a person, miserable or needy: about 1390, in a Middle English life of St Augustine.^[5][10] Etymonline dates the word to the early 14th century.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The word followed mischief from misfortune to harm: by 1414 it described things with harmful effects, and by about 1438 people who did harm.^[5][7] The milder sense of childish naughtiness is first recorded in Wycherley's The Country Wife (1675),^[5][8][7] and the positive one, charmingly roguish or teasing, from 1761.^[5] The original sense died out by 1660.^[5] Johnson (1755) still gave only the harsh senses: harmful, hurtful, destructive, wicked.^[11] In Scottish use Wright records it for hurtful or painful and for cheating or tricky.^[12]

Timeline

• c. 1390 – unfortunate, disastrous; of a person, miserable or needy (obsolete by 1660).^[5][10]
• 1414 – having harmful effects.^[5]
• c. 1438 – of a person, doing harm or meaning harm.^[5]
• 1675 – naughty, inclined to mischief.^[5][8]
• 1761 – charmingly roguish, playful, teasing.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Inclined to cause minor trouble or annoyance; naughty: a mischievous puppy chewing the slippers.^[13][2][5]
2. Playfully teasing or roguish: a mischievous wink.^[13][2][5]
3. Causing or meant to cause harm: mischievous rumours.^[13][2][5]
4. (obsolete, 1390–1660) Unfortunate or calamitous; of a person, miserable or needy.^[5][10]

Word family

• mischievously
• mischievousness

Related words

• mischief
• achieve
• chief

Usage notes

The word has three syllables with the stress on the first.^[4][2] A stress on the second syllable was common in literature until about 1700 and then became nonstandard;^[5][8] in 1802 Walker's pronouncing dictionary called it "chiefly confined to the vulgar".^[5] The four-syllable mischievious probably grew from it on the model of devious and previous.^[5][4] Merriam-Webster records it as a pronunciation that many find unacceptable.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
13. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins