ragamuffin

American  

[rag-uh-muhf-in] / ˈræg əˌmʌf ɪn /

noun

1. a ragged, disreputable person; tatterdemalion.

2. a child in ragged, ill-fitting, dirty clothes.

   Synonyms:

   guttersnipe, urchin, waif

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ragamuffin British  

/ ˈræɡəˌmʌfɪn /

noun

1. a ragged unkempt person, esp a child

2. another name for ragga

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Etymology

Origin of ragamuffin

1350–1400; Middle English Ragamoffyn, name of a demon in the poem Piers Plowman

Explanation

Use the word ragamuffin to affectionately tease your friend who shows up late to brunch with messy hair, dark circles under her eyes, and her shirt on backwards. In essence, you are calling her a shabbily clad street urchin. Now a generally playful and affectionate term indicating dishevelment, ragamuffin came into existence in the mid-14th century with a more punishing connotation. Derived in part from the word ragged, then used to refer to the devil’s shaggy appearance, it has also historically been used to describe a lazy and worthless, or beggarly individual. Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable provides a helpful and quirky explanation for the word: “A muffin is a poor thing of a creature, a 'regular muff'; so that a ragamuffin is a sorry creature in rags.”

Example Sentences

How this riff-drunk ragamuffin, who turns 82 on Dec. 18, not only survived but stayed relevant is a mystery, a puzzle wrapped inside a guitar string.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 11, 2025

To some, he was a rollicking drifter in ragamuffin punk tatters.

From BBC • Dec. 2, 2023

A ragamuffin looking for a meal, Eurydice receives instead a feast of affection that includes a proposition of marriage.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 28, 2022

They shoot nail guns and play in the fire simulation room, and their ragamuffin charms quickly win over the grown-ups.

From New York Times • Nov. 7, 2019

Babci sat at her kitchen table, wearing one of my grandfather’s old dress shirts, her hair half up and half down, the picture of a ragamuffin.

From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman