In this article we will study the word "naughty". At first glance, this is a simple concept, but when we get to know its origin and find out its cognate words, the meaning may change. Consider the lexical meaning of the concept, give synonyms, and at the end we will learn how to use this word in speech.
Etymology of the word "naughty"
This word is of Old Russian origin. The roots "zor", "zri", "zre", "zir" are literally understood in the meaning of "eye", "visibility", "look", that is, they refer to vision. For example, this root is found in such words as "gaze", "shame", "gap", "shameful". In all these cases, "zor" has the meaning of some action or inaction seen in front of others.
So the word "naughty" should also have the meaning of what he saw. If we think about and imagine in what situations we use this concept, we get the following. It is easy to imagine a mischievous boy who is fooling around, running around, wavinghands and cheerfully shouts something. But this boy behaves this way not when he is alone, but when there are other people around. That is, the mischievous one draws attention to himself.
The lexical meaning of the word "naughty"
In the dictionaries of D. N. Ushakov and S. I. Ozhegov, this definition is explained as something or someone prone to mischief and pranks. But not only people can be mischievous. Therefore, this word has three meanings:
- A person, and most often a child, who likes to play pranks. A crazy kid is a mischievous kid.
- Something full of mischief. It can be behavior, play, fun.
- In the negative meaning - scandalous, uncontrollable and violent.
Let's look at a few synonyms to make it easier to understand what we are talking about:
- perky;
- cheerful;
- crazy;
- spoiled;
- hooligan;
- exuberant;
- unmanaged;
- shebutnoy;
- groovy;
- mischievous;
- poor;
- naughty;
- sweet.
There are many synonyms for the word "naughty", and all of them generally refer to the active behavior of someone with a negative connotation.
Examples of usage
The best thing about understanding anything is practice. Therefore, it is so important to study examples of the use of the word. They can clearly show how it works in live speech.
Here are some examples:
- Lisa is a brave girl and a littlenaughty.
- Boys, calm down, please stop these naughty games.
- When Ivan used to drink more than he was supposed to, he became violent and mischievous.
- How mischievous these little monkeys are.
The concept under study is easily and simply comprehended by us when the history of the origin of the word is given, when there are synonyms. And most importantly, we saw this word in action. "Naughty" does not mean bad, the connotation of negative and positive varies depending on the context.
