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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

scamp.

A rascal, swindler, or rogue; a ne'er-do-well.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈskæmp//ˈskeə̯mp//ˈskɛə̯mp/
  1. A rascal, swindler, or rogue; a ne'er-do-well.

  2. A mischievous person, especially a playful, impish youngster.

    My nephew is a little scamp who likes to leave lighted firecrackers under the lawnchairs of his dozing elders.
    While walking home from the bar, he was set upon by a bunch of scamps who stole his hat.
Where this word comes from

From Middle Dutch schampen (“slip away”), from Old French escamper (“to run away, to make one's escape”), from Vulgar Latin *excampāre. Compare escape.

verb/ˈskæmp//ˈskeə̯mp//ˈskɛə̯mp/
  1. To skimp; to do something in a skimpy or slipshod fashion.

    dated
Where this word comes from

Perhaps related to sense 1, but influenced by the later attested skimp; however, compare Icelandic skamta (“to dole out, to stint”), which is related to skammur (“short”).

noun/ˈskæmp//ˈskeə̯mp//ˈskɛə̯mp/
  1. A preliminary design sketch.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.