Dictionary

roguish en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈɹoʊɡɪʃ/ (General-American)
• /ˈɹəʊɡɪʃ/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Etymology tree English rogue Proto-Indo-European *-iskos Proto-Germanic *-iskaz Proto-West Germanic *-isk Old English -isċ Middle English -isch English -ish English roguish From rogue + -ish.

Meanings

1. Unprincipled or unscrupulous.
2. (idiomatic) Mischievous and playful.
   • Hortense, with her rich chestnut locks so luxuriantly knotted, plaited, twisted, as if she did not know how to dispose of all their abundance, with her vermillion lips, damask cheek, and roguish laughing eye. a. 1856 (date written), Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter XI, in A[rthur] B[ell] Nicholls, editor, The Professor, a Tale. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], published 1857, →OCLC, page 187:
   • Back at the sauna, Mr. Pylhhänen gives a roguish grin and says he has found the answer to the “happiest country” debate – in a very Finnish way, of course. 2025 July 30, Mark Sappenfield, “What makes Finland the ‘world’s happiest nation’? In a word, simplicity.”, in The Christian Science Monitor:
   • "She'll be a match for poor little Cupid, with his tiny bow and arrow, I dare say," said Grace Fitzgerald, with a roguish eye. 1840, The Novel Newspaper, volume 2, page 8:

Forms

Deriveds

roguishly · unroguish · roguishness

Synonyms

roguey

Translations (13)

de schalkhaft (mischievous and playful) · bg дяволит (mischievous and playful) · sv skälmsk (mischievous and playful) · grc πανοῦργος (unprincipled or unscrupulous) · de gewissenlos (unprincipled or unscrupulous) · bg закачлив (mischievous and playful) · ga rógánta (unprincipled or unscrupulous) · de spitzbübisch (mischievous and playful) · de skrupellos (unprincipled or unscrupulous) · mi porohīanga (mischievous and playful) · de verschmitzt (mischievous and playful) · bg мошенически (unprincipled or unscrupulous) · de schurkisch (unprincipled or unscrupulous)