Read on, you wastrels, profligates, miscreants and ne'er-do-wells.
From Merriam-Webster.
RUFFIAN
Definition
Brutal person; bully
Example
"'You try me too much. A ruffian – a common brawling ruffian – that's what you have become.'" – Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World
About the Word
Ruffians specialize in roughness, and between the 16th and 18th centuries, they were also synonymous with pimps – men who solicit clients for prostitutes.
HOOLIGAN
Definition
A usually young man who does noisy and violent things as part of a group or gang; hoodlum
Example
"A Dutch court sentenced the hooligan who attacked [the] goalkeeper during a cup match ... to a six-month prison term Thursday ..." – Associated Press, December 29, 2011
About the Word
This word may be eponymous: Patrick Hooligan was an Irish-born ruffian who attained notoriety (and who died in prison) in London shortly before the turn of the 20th century. It's still associated with Britain, where "football hooliganism" is sometimes referred to as the "English disease."
SCALAWAG
Definition
Mischievous and often morally corrupt person
Examples
"The captain of Company L refused to recognize us; said we were deserters, and traitors, and scalawags; and when he drew rations for Company L from the commissary, he wouldn't give us any." – Jack London, The Road
About the Word
Also spelled scallywag, this term may originally have referred to an animal of very little value. After the Civil War, scalawag came to describe a white Southerner acting in support of reconstruction governments, often in pursuit of private gain; it was used to insult Rhett Butler in Gone With the Wind. The origin of scalawag is unknown, but one theory suggests there's a link to the Scottish scoloc, a first-born son given to the Church to educate.
SCAMP
Definition
Rascal; rogue
Examples
"British director Guy Ritchie took Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes out of mothballs in 2009, giving him a sarcastic and kinetic update with the help of lovable scamp Robert Downey Jr." – Matthew Odam, Austin American-Statesman
About the Word
Scamp once functioned as a verb meaning "to roam about idly" (think scamper). The noun we've featured here appeared later, and has a more playful overtone than some other words on this list.
RAPSCALLION
Definition
Rascal; an idle worthless person
Examples
"The devil fetch ye, ye ragamuffin rapscallions; ye are all asleep. Stop snoring, ye sleepers, and pull." – Herman Melville, Moby Dick
About the Word
There are no scallions in rapscallion. Rapscallion is an alteration of rascallion, which is itself an irregular formation of rascal, a term born in an Old French dialect word meaning "to scrape, clean off."
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