ragamuffin
noun
Did you know?
If you've guessed that rag or ragged is related to ragamuffin, you may be correct, but the origins of the word are somewhat murky. In Middle English, ragamuffin functioned both as a surname and generically to denote a ragged (and sometimes stupid) person, and in the Middle English alliterative poem Piers Plowman William Langland used the word to serve as the name of a demon. The muffin part of ragamuffin may have its origin in either of two Anglo-Norman words for a devil or scoundrel, but that too is uncertain. No matter its muddied history—the word has continued to develop in modern times. It can also refer to a type of music with rap lyrics and a reggae beat.
Examples of ragamuffin in a Sentence
Carrie Dennis, Travel + Leisure, 14 June 2025
Playing out on a New Orleans street set designed more or less as a cartoon by David Rockwell, its pirates costumed by Linda Cho in ragamuffin seafaring garb that nonetheless allows for the odd pleasing splash of color, Pirates!
—Greg Evans, Deadline, 24 Apr. 2025
The former royal highness will be too busy leading the Resistance, alongside Jonathan and his ragamuffin group of bandits, to fight off all of the Queen’s men.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 19 Mar. 2025
And the best way to clear a driveway piled with snow is to hire some neighborhood ragamuffins with snow shovels, pay them some cash, and give them a belt of hot chocolate.
—Steven Levy, WIRED, 5 Apr. 2024
The young ragamuffin helped turn corrido tumbado into a global chart-topper (and moneymaker) and proved that Latin American artists don’t have to compromise to reach that level of acclaim.
—Pitchfork, 13 Dec. 2023
The Moser family — Lubo, his wife and three cheerfully ragamuffin little kids — are a troupe of travelling performers who earn their keep putting on shows in the local towns.
—Jessica Kiang, Variety, 7 Sep. 2023
The reunion between ragamuffin Georgie and boyish Jason also recalls Peter Bogdanovich’s Paper Moon from 50 years ago, a movie set during the Great Depression, an exercise in nostalgia.
—Armond White, National Review, 30 Aug. 2023
Then there is the rest of the ragamuffin roster that was picked to finish seventh in the Big 12, a conference so prestigious that its most noteworthy programs — Oklahoma and Texas — can’t wait to leave.
—Billy Witz Sasha Portis, New York Times, 31 Dec. 2022
Cite this Entry
“Ragamuffin.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ragamuffin. Accessed 9 Jul. 2025.
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ragamuffin
noun
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