urchin

English

From Middle English irchoun (“hedgehog”), borrowed from Lua error in Module:parameters at line 159: Parameter 2 should be a valid language, etymology language or family code; the value ONF. is not valid. See WT:LOL, WT:LOL/E and WT:LOF., variant of Lua error in Module:parameters at line 159: Parameter 2 should be a valid language, etymology language or family code; the value ONF. is not valid. See WT:LOL, WT:LOL/E and WT:LOF., Old French heriçun, heriçon (compare modern hérisson), from Vulgar Latin *ericio, ericionem, from Latin ericius (“hedgehog”).

Lua error in Module:parameters at line 159: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value RP is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA^(key): /ˈɜːtʃɪ̈n/
Lua error in Module:parameters at line 159: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value GA is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. enPR: ûrʹchĭn, IPA^(key): /ˈɝtʃɪ̈n/
Audio (US): (file)
Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)tʃɪn
Hyphenation: ur‧chin, urchin

urchin (plural urchins)

A mischievous child.
- 1912 January, Zane Grey, chapter 7, in Riders of the Purple Sage […], New York, N.Y., London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC:
  
  And like these fresh green things were the dozens of babies, tots, toddlers, noisy urchins, laughing girls, a whole multitude of children of one family. For Collier Brandt, the father of all this numerous progeny, was a Mormon with four wives.
A street urchin, a child who lives, or spends most of their time, in the streets.
- W. Howitt
  And the urchins that stand with their thievish eyes / Forever on watch ran off each with a prize.
(archaic) A hedgehog.
- before 1400, The Romaunt of the Rose, translated from French, partially by Geoffrey Chaucer
  […] Like sharp urchouns his here was growe, / His eyes rede as the fire-glow; […]
A sea urchin.
A mischievous elf supposed sometimes to take the form of a hedgehog.
- Shakespeare
  We'll dress [them] like urchins, ouphes, and fairies.
One of a pair in a series of small card cylinders arranged around a carding drum; so called from its fancied resemblance to the hedgehog.
(Can we find and add a quotation of Knight to this entry?)
(historical) A neutron-generating device that triggered the nuclear detonation of the earliest plutonium atomic bombs.

mischievous child

Bulgarian: please add this translation if you can
Dutch: bengel (nl) m
Esperanto: bubo (eo)
French: garnement (fr) m
Georgian: please add this translation if you can
German: Bengel (de) m, Lümmel (de) m, Lausbube m, Racker (de) m, Schlingel (de) m, Göre (de) f
Greek: διαβολάκι (el) n (diavoláki), (obsolete) παλιόπαιδο (el) n (paliópaido)
Hungarian: lurkó (hu), csibész (hu)
Ido: bubo (io)
(deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
Italian: monello (it), birichino (it), peste (it), discolo (it) m, lazzarone (it) m
Japanese: 小汚いガキ (kogitanai gaki)
Occitan: esparnèl m, galapian m
Portuguese: moleque (pt) m
Romanian: please add this translation if you can
Russian: прока́зник (ru) m (prokáznik), баловни́к (ru) m (balovník), озорни́к (ru) m (ozorník)
Spanish: gamín (es) m, gamina (es) f, golfillo
Turkish: please add this translation if you can

street urchin — see street urchin

hedgehog — see hedgehog

sea urchin — see sea urchin