urchin

American  

[ur-chin] / ˈɜr tʃɪn /

noun

urchins plural

1. a mischievous boy.

   Synonyms:

   scamp, rascal

2. any small boy or youngster.

3. sea urchin.

4. either of two small rollers covered with card clothing used in conjunction with the cylinder in carding.

5. Chiefly British Dialect. a hedgehog.

6. Obsolete. an elf or mischievous sprite.

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urchin British  

/ ˈɜːtʃɪn /

noun

1. a mischievous roguish child, esp one who is young, small, or raggedly dressed

2. See sea urchin heart urchin

3. an archaic or dialect name for a hedgehog

4. either of the two cylinders in a carding machine that are covered with carding cloth

5. obsolete an elf or sprite

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• urchins
  plural

Etymology

Origin of urchin

1300–50; Middle English urchun, urchon hedgehog < Old North French ( h ) erichon, Old French heriçun < Vulgar Latin *hēriciōn- (stem of *hēriciō ), equivalent to Latin ēric ( ius ) hedgehog + -iōn- -ion

Explanation

That young child dressed in dirty hand-me-downs and running rampant through city streets is an urchin. Street urchins, as they are commonly called, have a reputation for getting into trouble. Strangely enough, urchin, pronounced "UR-chin," comes from the 13th century French word yrichon, which means “hedgehog,” and is still used as such in parts of England today. As for people who are urchins, perhaps they got the name because at the time, they were so small, wild and many in number — like hedgehogs. The 19th century novelist Charles Dickens wrote about so many fictional urchins, most famously Oliver Twist, that dickens has become a synonym for urchin.

Example Sentences

Meanwhile, British star Harris Dickinson is another actor moving behind the camera, with Urchin telling the story of a rough sleeper in London who struggles to turn his life around.

From BBC • May 12, 2025

The 28-year-old will show his film Urchin, about a homeless man in London, at the French festival.

From BBC • Apr. 10, 2025

Tinned fish at the shop runs anywhere from $8 for Ati Manel garfish, a needle-like fish offred in olive oil from Portugal, to $36 for Conservas de Cambados ‘Sea Urchin Caviar’ from Spain’s Galician estuaries.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 20, 2023

There are also some fashionable newcomers, such as Urchin, a wine shop, and Cliffs, which promises “Coffee Records Yoga.”

From Washington Post • Aug. 3, 2017

The last time it was as full as tonight was on the Christmas nativity play night when I'd been a Scruffy Urchin of Bethlehem.

From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell