Mischief
/ˈmɪs.tʃɪf/noun
Behavior or action that causes minor trouble, damage, or annoyance.
Did you know?In Middle English, *mischief* could mean serious misfortune, injury, or even ruin, not just playful trouble, and its older French ancestor carried the sense of “bad event” or “harm.”
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*kaput-
“head”
Latin
Latin
caput
“head”
Late Latin
LLatin
*capitium
“head-covering; hood”
Old French
OF
meschief
“misfortune; harm; bad event”
Middle English
ME
mischief
“harm; injury; trouble; misfortune”
Modern English
English
mischief
“playful troublemaking or petty wrongdoing”