naughty

English

Etymology

From late Middle English noughti, naughty (“evil, immoral, wicked”), from nought (“evil, immoral”) + -ī̆ (suffix forming adjectives). Analysable as naught +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈnɔːti/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈnɔti/, [ˈnɔɾi]
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈnɑti/, [ˈnɑɾi]

  • Audio (US, cot–caught merger):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔːti
• Hyphenation: naugh‧ty
• Homophones: knotty (cot–caught merger); noddy (cot–caught merger, flapping)

Adjective

naughty (comparative naughtier, superlative naughtiest)

1. Mischievous; tending to misbehave or act badly (especially of a child). [from 17th c.]

   Some naughty boys at school hid the teacher's lesson notes.

2. Sexually provocative; now in weakened sense, risqué, cheeky. [from 19th c.]

   I bought some naughty lingerie for my honeymoon.

   If I see you send another naughty email to your friends, you will be forbidden from using the computer!

3. (now rare, archaic) Evil, wicked, morally reprehensible. [from 15th c.]
   • 1589, John Bucke, Instructions for the Use of the Beades:

     my proneſſe to ſinne, and naughty appetites and desires, woulde drawe me headlong to the pitte of hell

   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

     […] How far that little candle throws his beams!
     So shines a good deed in a naughty world.

   • 1644, John Milton, Areopagitica; a Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England, London: [s.n.], →OCLC:

     Wholesome meats to a vitiated stomack differ little or nothing from unwholesome; and best books to a naughty mind are not unappliable to occasions of evill.

4. (obsolete) Bad, worthless, substandard. [16th–19th c.]
   • 1542, Andrew Boorde, The First Boke of the Introduction of Knowledge:

     In Cornwall is two speches, the one is naughty Englysshe, and the other is Cornysshe speche.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Jeremiah 24:2:

     One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe: and the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.

Alternative forms

• noughty (archaic or obsolete)

Synonyms

• (immoral, sexually provocative): dirty
• (mischievous): mischievous

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “immoral; cheeky”): nice

Derived terms

• naughtily
• naughtiness
• naughty bit
• naughty list
• naughty-pack
• naughty parts
• naughty step
• naughty step
• naughty word

 

Translations

bad; tending to misbehave or act badly

• Arabic: شِرِّير (ar) (širrīr), (indefinite) مُؤْذٍ (muʔḏin), (definite) الْمُؤْذِي (al-muʔḏī)
• Armenian: չար (hy) (čʻar)
• Azerbaijani: yaramaz (az)
• Belarusian: непаслухмя́ны (njepasluxmjány)
• Bulgarian: непослушен (bg) m (neposlušen), немирен (bg) (nemiren), невъзпитан (bg) (nevǎzpitan)
• Catalan: trapella (ca), entremaliat (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 曳 (yue) (jai⁵)

  Mandarin: 頑皮 / 顽皮 (zh) (wánpí), 淘氣 / 淘气 (zh) (táoqì), 調皮 / 调皮 (zh) (tiáopí)

• Danish: slem (da), uartig (da)
• Dutch: stout (nl), ondeugend (nl)
• Esperanto: fia (eo), petola
• Finnish: tuhma (fi), ilkeä (fi)
• French: malicieux (fr), malin (fr), méchant (fr), vilain (fr)
• Georgian: ცელქი (celki)
• German: ungezogen (de), unartig (de), ungehorsam (de), dreist (de), frech (de)
• Greek: άτακτος (el) (átaktos)
• Guaraní: saraki
• Hebrew: שׁוֹבָב (he) m (shováv)
• Hindi: नटखट (hi) (naṭkhaṭ)
• Hungarian: rossz (hu), csintalan (hu), csibész (hu), pajkos (hu), huncut (hu), helytelen (hu), dévaj (hu)
• Indonesian: nakal (id)
• Irish: dalba
• Italian: birichino (it), furbetto (it), malizioso (it)
• Japanese: わんぱくな (ja) (wanpaku-na), いたずらな (ja) (itazura-na), やんちゃな (ja) (yancha-na), 行儀が悪い (ぎょうぎがわるい, gyōgi-ga warui)
• Kabuverdianu: abuzadu, abuzóde
• Khiamniungan Naga: ūkhīeh
• Korean: 장난꾸러기의 (jangnankkureogiui)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ناڕەحەت (narreḧet)

• Latin: improbus
• Latvian: nerātns
• Macedonian: палав m (palav), непослушен m (neposlušen), немирен m (nemiren)
• Malayalam: വികൃതി (ml) (vikr̥ti)
• Maori: rawemākoi, haututū
• Norwegian: uskikkelig
• Persian: تخس (fa) (toxs), الپر (fa) (alpar), آلپر (fa) (âlpar)
• Plautdietsch: goaschtrich
• Polish: niegrzeczny (pl) m, psotny (pl) m, nieposłuszny (pl) m
• Portuguese: travesso (pt), levado (pt)
• Romanian: neastâmpărat (ro), obraznic (ro)
• Russian: озорно́й (ru) (ozornój), непослу́шный (ru) (neposlúšnyj), шаловли́вый (ru) (šalovlívyj), шкодли́вый (ru) (škodlívyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: crosta
• Spanish: travieso (es), maleducado (es)
• Swedish: stygg (sv)
• Tagalog: makulit, pilyo
• Thai: ซน (th) (son), ดื้อ (th) (dʉ̂ʉ)
• Tibetan: སྒྲིག་ཉེས་པོ (sgrig nyes po)
• Turkish: yaramaz (tr), haşarı (tr), haylaz (tr), bacaksız (tr)
• Ukrainian: неслухня́ний (nesluxnjányj)

risqué, sexually suggestive

• Danish: uartig (da), fræk
• Dutch: ondeugend (nl), gewaagd (nl), gedurfd (nl), brutaal (nl), vuil (nl)
• Finnish: tuhma (fi)
• French: risqué (fr)
• Galician: piardeiro m
• German: frech (de), unanständig (de), versaut (de)
• Hindi: नटखट (hi) (naṭkhaṭ)
• Hungarian: pikáns (hu), sikamlós (hu), illetlen (hu), pajzán (hu), huncut (hu), obszcén (hu), helytelen (hu), csintalan (hu)
• Italian: provocante (it), osceno (it)
• Japanese: きわどい (ja) (kiwadoi), みだらな (ja) (midara-na), エッチな (ja) (etchi-na)
• Macedonian: палав m (palav)
• Norwegian: frekk, uforskamma
• Portuguese: safado (pt)
• Romanian: deocheat (ro)
• Serbo-Croatian: pikantan (sh), neumesan, opsen
• Spanish: obsceno (es), picante (es), cachondo
• Turkish: yaramaz (tr), çapkın (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: ^{(please verify)} risqué (fr)

Verb

naughty (third-person singular simple present naughties, present participle naughtying, simple past and past participle naughtied)

1. To perform sexual acts upon.