urchin

American  

[ur-chin] / ˈɜr tʃɪn /

noun

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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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

Ora King salmon crudo was dressed in passionfruit aguachile with Tabasco oil, while a uni carbonara used creamy sea urchin in place of guanciale, finished with smoked trout roe.

From Salon • Feb. 2, 2026

Her fossilized sea urchin, from a beach on the Red Sea, “responds by radiating its own inner joy at being found and loved too,” whispering: “We are two cyclical beings, each with their own story.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 16, 2026

From 2005 to 2019, managers attempted biological control measures to reduce urchin numbers, but these efforts ultimately did not succeed.

From Science Daily • Dec. 12, 2025

She made her first film appearance at the age of 12 as an urchin in Alexander Korda's film The Thief of Baghdad in 1940.

From BBC • Jul. 25, 2025

Sometimes when she woke in the dark, they were perched at the foot of her bed, a grim chorus of urchin faces, boys without bodies, chanting without words, "Go back! Go back!"

From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez