street urchin

English

Etymology

First use appears c. 1827 in a publication by Thomas Carlyle. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term. Needs explanation

Pronunciation

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

street urchin (plural street urchins)

1. (British, dated) A child who lives, or spends most of their time, in the streets; sometimes a petty thief or pickpocket.

   Synonyms: gamin, guttersnipe, street child, street kid

   • 1956 [1880], Johanna Spyri, Heidi, translation of original by Eileen Hall, page 84:

     She ran to the door and there beheld the ragged street urchin calmly playing his organ.

   • 2020, Raju Kasambe, Indian Grey Hornbill: Unravelling the Secrets, page 94:

     On many occasions, groups of street urchins were seen climbing up large trees for squabs of Rose-ringed Parakeets[.]

Translations

child living or spending most of their time in the streets

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: беспрытульнік m (bjesprytulʹnik), беспрытульніца f (bjesprytulʹnica)
• Bulgarian: гамен (bg) m (gamen), уличник (bg) m (uličnik)
• Danish: gadebarn n
• Dutch: straatkind (nl) n (gender-neutral), straatjongen (nl) m (boy)
• Esperanto: bubo (eo)
• Finnish: katulapsi (fi)
• French: gamin (fr) m, gamine (fr) f, enfant des rues m or f
• Galician: neno da rúa
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Straßenkind (de) n (gender-neutral), Straßenjunge (de) m (boy)
• Greek: χαμίνι (el) n (chamíni), αλάνι (el) n (aláni)
• Hungarian: utcagyerek (hu), utcakölyök
• Ido: stradobubo
• Indonesian: anak jalanan
• Italian: ragazzo di strada m, monello (it) m, discolo (it) m, lazzarone (it) m, ladruncolo m, borsaiolo (it) m
• Latin: cicarö m
• Lingala: shege m, shégué m
• Neapolitan: scugnizzo m
• Plautdietsch: Gaussenbenjel m
• Polish: ulicznik (pl) m
• Portuguese: criança de rua f, menino de rua (pt) m, pivete (pt) m
• Romanian: copil al străzii m (gender neutral)
• Russian: у́личный мальчи́шка m (úličnyj malʹčíška), оборва́нец (ru) m (oborvánec), беспризо́рник (ru) m (besprizórnik), беспризорница (ru) f (besprizornica)
• Spanish: niño de la calle m, niño callejero m, gamín (es) m
• Swedish: gatubarn (sv) n (street child), rännstensunge (sv) c (street urchin)
• Tagalog: batang kalye
• Turkish: sokak çocuğu (tr), göbel (tr) (colloquial)

  Ottoman Turkish: رنجل (rencil)

• Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can
• Yiddish: גאַסןיונג m (gasnyung), גראָבער־יונג m (grober-yung)