etymology · 1300s–1400s
naughty
Drift #3 · May 15, 2026 · status
Meaning comparison
Today it means
mischievous; slightly disobedient
It used to mean (1300s–1400s)
poor; destitute; having nothing
Etymology
'Naughty' comes from 'naught' — nothing. A naughty person had naught, nothing at all. Medieval thinking conflated poverty with moral failing, so the word shifted from 'destitute' to 'wicked,' and eventually softened into the mild mischievousness it carries today.
The Drift
How the meaning shifted over time
the drift
1300shaving nothing; destitute; poor
1400smorally bad; wicked
1500simmoral; licentious
1700s+mischievous; disobedient
In Historical Context
The naughty men of the parish had no land and no cattle, and begged at the church door each Sunday for bread.
drift fact
The 'Naughty Nineties' — the 1890s — used the word in its midway sense: not quite wicked, not quite childish.
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