What does jackanapes mean?
A jackanapes is an impudent, mischievous person, usually a boy. The word belongs to an older, literary register and carries a more openly condemnatory tone than modern words such as “rascal.” A parent might call a cheeky child a “little jackanapes” as a mixture of annoyance and amusement, whereas a newspaper or novel might use the term more critically for an undisciplined or insolent man. The word can also denote a monkey in archaic usage, reflecting its uncertain and probably playful historical development. Although it is no longer common in everyday speech, it remains recognizable in older literature and useful as a vivid example of a once-familiar household term for unruly children. Its survival in phrases such as “little jackanapes” has kept the expression vivid long after it ceased to be neutral descriptive vocabulary.
nounAn impudent, mischievous person, especially a boy. The term is now old-fashioned and typically disparaging.
- An impudent, naughty, or mischievous person, especially a boy.
- Formerly, a monkey or ape; this sense is now archaic.
"The child was a lively jackanapes who mocked everyone he met."
"The young jackanapes had hidden his brother's books and pretended not to know where they were."
"In the novel, the duke is portrayed as a cunning and thoroughly undisciplined jackanapes."
The noun normally has the same form in the plural.
"The village tolerated a few jackanapes, but there was no tolerating their pranks."
“Jackanapes” is an old-fashioned verbal slap: what a parent might call an impudent child, with more bite than the modern word “rascal.”
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does jackanapes come from?
The word dates from the late 16th century, when it was used contemptuously for a person of bad manners and also for a monkey or ape. Its precise origin is disputed, although it is probably related to “ape” and may have developed from an earlier nickname for a monkey. Over time, its principal use became a derogatory term for an impudent or mischievous person, especially a boy.
How jackanapes is actually used
The expression is archaic, literary, and distinctly disparaging. It was once used more broadly for a rude or contemptible person, but in surviving modern usage it most often refers humorously or critically to an impudent child.