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Etymology and origin of the English word scamp

Pronunciation

scamp1 rascal

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1738 Proceedings of the Old Bailey
Ultimate origin
English scamper

Etymology

The word for the rascal is a noun use of an older verb of this spelling, which meant to roam in dialect[2][3][4] and to rob on the highway in cant,[5][6][7] and which the OED and Barnhart record from 1753.[8][2] Barnhart, Etymonline and Merriam-Webster Unabridged take that verb as from English shortened from scamper,[2][3][4] and the OED calls it apparently cognate with scamper, which is recorded earlier.[8] Hoad, the Shorter Oxford, Collins and the Oxford Dictionary of English instead derive it directly from Middle Dutch schampen (“to slip away, decamp”),[9][10][6][5] from Old French escamper, also eschamper,[9][10][6] from Vulgar Latin *excampō,[9] from Latin ex (“out of”) and campus (“field”).[9][10][6] Weekley and Skeat go straight to the Old French verb.[11][12] The OED also notes that an earlier trace may lie in the mock-heraldic scampant, from about 1585,[8][7] and Hoad dates the sense "idle about mischievously" to the 16th century.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Highway robbery: 1738, in the Proceedings of the Old Bailey, "I can hang five for the Scamp; that is, for Robberies on the Highway".[7] A highwayman is recorded from 1742, as scamp cull,[7] and the OED, Merriam-Webster Unabridged and Barnhart first date this sense to 1782.[8][4][2]

Semantic evolution

The word began as thieves' cant for a highwayman and his trade.[7][8][13] By the early 19th century the sense had softened to a worthless person, a swindler or a rogue: Jamieson's Scottish dictionary of 1808 has the first record.[8][2][3] From 1837 it is also used with affection, of a playful rascal,[3] and today it is mostly said of children.[13] The harsher sense of a dishonest person lives on in Caribbean English.[6][5][13] In dialect the verb went its own way: Wright records "to wander about idly" from Scotland and Warwickshire, "to hurry off" from Scotland, "to run away from" from Gloucestershire, and "to play mischievous tricks" from Banffshire.[14]

Timeline

  • c. 1585 – scampant, a mock-heraldic adjective that may hold the earliest trace of the word.[8][7]
  • 1738 – noun, highway robbery.[7] The OED has this sense from 1786.[8]
  • 1742 – scamp cull, a highwayman.[7] The OED and Merriam-Webster Unabridged date the plain noun in this sense to 1782.[8][4]
  • 1753 – verb, in cant use, in John Poulter.[8] Barnhart and Etymonline gloss it “to roam”.[2][3]
  • 1755 – verb, to work as a highwayman, to rob.[7]
  • 1808 – noun, a good-for-nothing, a rogue.[8][2]
  • 1837 – noun, a rascal, in affection.[3]
  • 1867 – verb, in Scotland, with about or off, in W. Gregor's Banffshire glossary.[8]
  • 1882 – noun, in the United States, a fish.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A mischievous person, especially a child, who plays impish tricks: That little scamp hid my slippers again.[6][4][8]
  2. A worthless or scheming person; a rascal or rogue; in the Caribbean, a dishonest person, used as a term of contempt.[4][6][8]
  3. A West Indian grouper, named for its skill at stealing bait.[4][8]
  4. (archaic) A highwayman.[4][8]

Verb

  1. (Scotland, dialect) To wander about idly; to hurry off.[8][14]
  2. (obsolete, cant) To rob on the highway.[7][5]

Word family

  • scampish
  • scampishly
  • scampishness

scamp2 to do carelessly

Confidence
Disputed
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1837 N. Whittock, Complete Book of Trades
Borrowed from
Old Norse skemma
Etymology tree of scamp2
inherited borrowed derived
English scant
English scamp

Etymology

The word for doing a job carelessly is probably of dialect origin, and it may be borrowed from Old Norse skemma (“to shorten”), from skammr (“short”), the source of scant.[8][2][3][11][4] It is close in sense to dialect skimp,[8][9] and Klein explains it as a blend from English scant + skimp.[15] Hoad and the Shorter Oxford think it may be the same word as scamp1, with its sense drawn towards that verb,[9][10][5] and Etymonline also mentions a back-formation from scamper.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To do work negligently or hurriedly: 1837, in N. Whittock's Complete Book of Trades.[8][2][4]

Semantic evolution

The word spread from dialect, with Weekley calling it a recent adoption in 1921.[11] Wright records it from Scotland, Yorkshire, Cheshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, London, Kent, Somerset and Cornwall, in the sense of doing work badly or with poor materials, or of shirking it,[14] and Mayhew used it of London scavenging work in 1851.[14] Mayhew also has scamper, a jerry-builder.[14][8] Green's Dictionary of Slang records "to give short measure, to cheat" from 1838, but derives it from the noun for a highwayman.[7] In American English the verb came to mean to be stingy, from 1894.[8][2]

Timeline

  • 1837 – to do work negligently or hurriedly.[8][2][4]
  • 1838 – to give short measure, to cheat.[7]
  • 1851 – scamper, a jerry-builder.[8][14]
  • 1894 – in the United States, to be stingy.[8][2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To do something hastily, carelessly or with poor materials; to skimp: The contractor scamped the plastering to finish by Friday.[4][8][10]
  2. (United States) To be stingy or too sparing.[8][2]

Word family

  • scampingly
  • unscamped

Usage notes

In East Anglian dialect, scamp was also a word for the scalp or head.[14]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d e Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  12. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  13. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  14. ^ a b c d e f g 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)
  15. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.

Related etymologies

  • rug · also from Old Norse
  • slack · also from Old Norse
  • blaze · also from Old Norse
  • gaze · also from Old Norse
  • beck · also from Old Norse
  • calf · also from Old Norse
  • scarf · also from Old Norse
  • lag · also from Old Norse
Cite this entry

“Scamp.” Etymologically, 6 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/scamp. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·