puckish

adjective

puck·​ish ˈpə-kish 

: impish, whimsical

puckishly adverb

puckishness noun

Did you know?

We know Puck as "that merry wanderer of the night," the shape-changing, maiden-frightening, mischief-sowing henchman to the king of the fairies in William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. The Bard drew on English folklore in casting his character, but the traditional Puck was more malicious than the Shakespearean imp; he was an evil spirit or demon. In medieval England, this nasty hobgoblin was known as the puke or pouke, names related to the Old Norse pūki, meaning "devil." (There is no connection to modern English puke.) But it was the Bard's characterization that stuck, and by the time the adjective puckish started appearing regularly in English texts in the 1800s the association was one of impishness, not evil.

Synonyms

• arch
• devilish
• elvish
• espiègle
• impish
• knavish
• leprechaunish
• mischievous
• pixie
• pixy
• pixieish
• prankish
• rascally
• roguish
• scampish
• sly
• tricksy
• waggish
• wicked

Examples of puckish in a Sentence

He had a puckish smile on his face.

he takes a puckish delight in teasing her about her love life, or lack thereof

Recent Examples on the Web

Nattily dressed in a tan peacoat and collared shirt, the puckish tot also made monster noises, stuck his fingers in his dad’s ears, plopped himself on the floor and went eye to eye with Trump. —Karu F. Daniels, New York Daily News, 20 Feb. 2025

Haugerud’s writing is thoughtful and rife with substantial ideas, but also delights in puckish diversions and shaggy-dog anecdotes — some of which illuminate the themes at hand, while others merely highlight the eccentric perversity of man in general. —Guy Lodge, Variety, 13 Feb. 2025

This puckish presentation may not be for those who feign at flatus. —Natasha Gural, Forbes, 12 Jan. 2025

The clarinettist Matic Kuder, another recent addition to the ranks, enlivened both the symphony and the concerto with limpid, puckish solos. —Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 9 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

puck entry 2

First Known Use

1831, in the meaning defined above

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