Wordsmith.org: the magic of words


A.Word.A.Day

About | Media | Search | Contact  


Home

Today's Word

Yesterday's Word

Archives

FAQ


Discuss
Email this
Feedback
RSS/XML
Permalink

A.Word.A.Day--ragamuffin

Pronunciation Sound Clip RealAudio

This week's theme: eponyms -- words coined after someone.

ragamuffin (RAG-uh-muf-in) noun

Someone, especially a child, in ragged, dirty clothes.

[After Ragamoffyn, a demon in William Langland's 14th century poem Piers Plowman.]

See more usage examples of ragamuffin in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

-Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)

"There were ragamuffins filled with certainties on every streetcorner and philosophers in every coffeehouse." Earl Shorris; A Nation of Salesmen; Harper's (New York); Oct 1994.

X-Bonus

That some good can be derived from every event is a better proposition than that everything happens for the best, which it assuredly does not. -James Kern Feibleman, philosopher and psychiatrist (1904-1987)

What they say

“Anu Garg triggers the kind of passionate reaction that actors, authors and memoirists would die for.”
Read more

USA Today


More articles

Anu Garg on words

“To understand a word, we need to learn where it was born, what paths it took to reach where it is today, and how it has changed along the way.”

We need your help

Help us continue to spread the magic of words to readers everywhere

Donate

Subscriber Services
Awards | Stats | Links | Privacy Policy
Contribute | Advertise

© 1994-2025 Wordsmith