noun
Meaning 1
A hedgehog.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, dialectal
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
urchin
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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Received-Pronunciation: /ˈɜːtʃɪn/
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Received-Pronunciation: /ˈɜːtʃən/
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General-American: ûrʹchĭn
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General-American: /ˈɝt͡ʃɪn/
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General-American: /ˈɝt͡ʃən/
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US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)tʃɪn
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CMU ARPABET: ER1 CH AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
A mischievous elf supposed sometimes to take the form of a hedgehog.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
A mischievous child.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
A street urchin, a child who lives, or spends most of their time, in the streets.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
A sea urchin.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 6
One of a pair in a series of small card cylinders arranged around a carding drum; so called from its fancied resemblance to the hedgehog.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 7
A neutron-generating device that triggered the nuclear detonation of the earliest plutonium atomic bombs.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: historical
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 8
poor and often mischievous city child
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: child, kid, youngster, minor, shaver, nipper, small fry, tiddler, tike, tyke, fry, nestling
Narrower terms: ragamuffin, tatterdemalion, street urchin, guttersnipe
History
Etymology
From Middle English yrchoun, irchoun (“hedgehog; sea urchin”), from Old Northern French irechon, from Vulgar Latin *ērīciōnem, from Latin ērīcius. Compare modern French hérisson, whence the English doublet herisson.
Across languages
Translations
36 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Azerbaijani: şuluq — mischievous child
- Bulgarian: палавник (palavnik) — mischievous child
- Bulgarian: калпазанин (kalpazanin) — mischievous child
- Dutch: bengel — mischievous child
- Esperanto: bubo — mischievous child
- French: garnement — mischievous child
- German: Bengel — mischievous child
- German: Lümmel — mischievous child
- German: Lausbube — mischievous child
- German: Racker — mischievous child
- German: Schlingel — mischievous child
- German: Göre — mischievous child
- Greek: διαβολάκι (diavoláki) — mischievous child
- Greek: παλιόπαιδο (paliópaido) — mischievous child
- Hungarian: lurkó — mischievous child
- Hungarian: csibész — mischievous child
- Ido: bubo — mischievous child
- Italian: monello — mischievous child
- Italian: birichino — mischievous child
- Italian: peste — mischievous child
- Italian: discolo — mischievous child
- Italian: lazzarone — mischievous child
- Japanese: 小汚いガキ (kogitanai gaki) — mischievous child
- Occitan: esparnèl — mischievous child
- Occitan: galapian — mischievous child
- Polish: urwis — mischievous child
- Polish: łobuziak — mischievous child
- Portuguese: moleque — mischievous child
- Romanian: ștrengar — mischievous child
- Russian: прока́зник (prokáznik) — mischievous child
- Russian: баловни́к (balovník) — mischievous child
- Russian: озорни́к (ozorník) — mischievous child
- Serbo-Croatian: deran — mischievous child
- Spanish: gamín — mischievous child
- Spanish: gamina — mischievous child
- Spanish: golfillo — mischievous child