Plural of rascal: mischievous or dishonest people, often used playfully to describe troublemakers or children who are up to no good.
From Old French 'rascaille' meaning 'rabble' or 'common people,' possibly from Latin 'radere' (to scrape). Originally an insult for lower classes, it softened into a playful term.
The word started as a serious class insult but became affectionate and comic over centuries—when Shakespeare calls someone a 'rascal,' you can *feel* the language warming up from cruelty toward playfulness.
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