ragamuffin

[ rag-uh-muhf-in ]

noun

1. a ragged, disreputable person; tatterdemalion.
2. a child in ragged, ill-fitting, dirty clothes.

   Synonyms: street arab, guttersnipe, urchin, waif

ragamuffin

/ ˈræɡəˌmʌfɪn /

noun

1. a ragged unkempt person, esp a child
2. another name for ragga

Word History and Origins

Origin of ragamuffin¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of ragamuffin¹

C14 Ragamoffyn , name of a demon in the poem Piers Plowman (1393); probably based on rag ¹

Example Sentences

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

From BBC

Whether casually blackmailing a lesbian teacher or blithely confronting a would-be Humbert Humbert at an automat, Meg rarely abides by any natural law beyond her own whimsy, though she also nakedly seeks out friendship and approval — both from a conventionally pretty classmate and from a gang of ragamuffin boys who hang out on the waterfront.

From New York Times

With 73 cat breeds recognized by the International Cat Association, it can be difficult to discern a Ragdoll from a Ragamuffin.

From National Geographic

She was the club-hopping ragamuffin, the Marilyn Monroe doppelganger, the dark-haired heretic, the platinum sex goddess.

From Washington Post

Kingston came to me from unexpected places: in the quietly exploding hearts of “Summer Lightning and Other Stories,” by Olive Senior, and Lorna Goodison’s “Heartease”; in the unseen Asian immigrant histories and uncommon gender identities in Patricia Powell’s “The Pagoda”; in the fever dream of Rastafari and ghetto life in “Brother Man,” by Roger Mais; in the ragamuffin poetics of Marcia Douglas’s “The Marvelous Equations of the Dread”; and in the metafictional bait and switch of “Wide Sargasso Sea,” by Jean Rhys.

From New York Times