mischief

English

/ˈmɪstʃɪf/

noun
Definitions
  • (uncountable) Conduct that playfully causes petty annoyance.
  • (countable) A playfully annoying action.
  • (collective) A group or a pack of rats.
  • (archaic) Harm or injury:
  • (archaic) A cause or agent of annoyance, harm or injury, especially a person who causes mischief.
  • (euphemism) The Devil; used as an expletive.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English myschef derived from Old French meschief derived from Latin *capare, caput (head, etc, source).

Origin

Latin

caput

Gloss

head, etc, source

Concept
Semantic Field

The body

Ontological Category

Person/Thing

Kanji

Emoji
💁 🗣️ 🙅 🙆 🙇 🙋 🙍 🙎 🤕 🤦 🤦‍♀️ 🤦‍♂️ 🤷

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms