larrikin
Syllables: lar·ri·kinUK/ˈlæɹɪk(ɪ)n/US/ˈlɛɹəkən/
larrikin noun: a young, brash, and impertinent, and possibly violent, troublemaker, especially one who is a gang member; a hooligan.
Noun
larrikin (plural larrikins)
- A young, brash, and impertinent, and possibly violent, troublemaker, especially one who is a gang member; a hooligan.
- To keep me out of trouble I was sent to the wood-gang Cascade an out station about two miles from headquarters. On arriving at this place the following dialogue passed between me and the overseer: […] "A bit of a larrikin, T——, but it won't do here, you know." "No odds about that—what's the work?"1867 October 14 (date written), “The autobiography of a convict”, in The Empire, number 4,964, Sydney, N.S.W.: Samuel Bennett, published 16 October 1867, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 6, column 2
- I wish to call your attention to the annoyance foot passengers are subject to by the ill-behaviour and disgraceful conduct exhibited by the larrikins, and also from men (who ought to know better), who infest the market reserve for the purpose of disposing of their wood, and who, until they do so...1870 November 22, Pro Bono Publico [pseudonym], “The larrikin nuisance. To the editor of the Advertiser.”, in The Geelong Advertiser, number 7505, Geelong, Vic.: […] [F]or the proprietors by Alfred...
- A high-spirited person who playfully rebels against authority and conventional norms; a maverick or scamp.
- On all occasions Captain Smith's military character was good, though he was always a bit of a larrikin, and had a way of practical joking.1881 August 18 (date delivered), [William Lodewyk] Crowther, “House of Assembly. Thursday, August 18. [The Volunteer Commission.]”, in The Tasmanian, volume X, number 34, Launceston, Tas.: [A]t the...
- When [Frank] Browne's turn came, he went down like a true larrikin, giving cheek to the end. He spoke eloquently and at length about freedom of speech.1988 August, Gavin Souter, “Lord Protector”, in Acts of Parliament: A Narrative History of the Senate and House of Representatives, Commonwealth of Australia, Carlton, Vic.: Brown Prior Anderson for...
- Synonyms:
- eccentric, free spirit, heteroclite, deviant, deviate, individualist, maverick, misfit, nonconformist, offbeat
Adjective
larrikin (comparative more larrikin, superlative most larrikin)
- Of or relating to, or behaving like, a hooligan; hooliganistic, thuggish.
- Hoping my letter will have the desired effect of removing the larrikin nuisance especially in such a central portion of the town, […]1870 November 22, Pro Bono Publico [pseudonym], “The larrikin nuisance. To the editor of the Advertiser.”, in The Geelong Advertiser, number 7505, Geelong, Vic.: […] [F]or the proprietors by Alfred...
- A similar larrikin streak sends louts into city parks to shy stones at monuments and chip noses of statuary.1947 August 18, “Editorial: The Vandal Streak”, in Alice Mabel Jackson, editor, The Australian Women’s Weekly, Sydney, N.S.W.: Consolidated Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 18, column 1
- Playfully rebellious against and contemptuous of authority and convention; maverick.
- Mungo [Wentworth] MacCallum is hardly typecast as the chronicler of the story of what has gone right and wrong about the business of immigration, regular and irregular, to this country but this most larrikin and cold-eyed of one-time Canberra chroniclers brings to this story all his wit and dryness...2002, Peter Craven, “Introduction”, in Peter Craven, editor, Quarterly Essay, volume 5, Melbourne, Vic.: Black Inc., Schwartz Publishing, →ISBN, →ISSN, →OCLC, page iii
- Another area was occupied by a group of guests with a clearly more larrikin style, and who very much belonged to the dominated fraction. […] The language used was rather different (more 'crude' in the second one), clothing style was different too (less trendy, and much cheaper clothes in the second...2006, Allon J. Uhlmann, “Family and Gender, and Society at Large”, in Family, Gender and Kinship in Australia: The Social and Cultural Logic of Practice and Subjectivity (Anthropology and Cultural...
Examples of larrikin in a sentence
- How dare you talk to me like that, you young larrikin?1896, Henry Lawson, “A Visit of Condolence”, in While the Billy Boils, Sydney, N.S.W.: Angus and Robertson […], →OCLC, page 209:
- The reputation of the Melbourne larrikin was world wide, the larrikin being the forerunner of the hooligan.1907 June 17, Guy Baring, “Territorial and Reserve Forces Bill”, in The Parliamentary Debates (Authorised Edition), Fourth Series, Second...
- Flagstaff Hill [in Dunedin] is a hill without a flagstaff. […] Another man told me there never had been a staff on the hill; but if there had been, perhaps larrikins would have removed it.1913 October, [David] Paul Gooding, “Dunedin—Miscellaneous Ben Rudd and Flagstaff Hill—Roomy Invercargill—State Oysters—Romantic Stewart...
- But he never bawled and pranced and wallowed in mud and came home in the arms of shouting larrikins.1938, Xavier Herbert, “Psychological Effect of a Solar Topee”, in Capricornia […], New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton-Century...
Synonyms of larrikin
2 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of larrikin
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | larrikins |
| alternative form | larikin |
| alternative form | larrykin |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more larrikin |
| superlative | most larrikin |
Origin of larrikin
Origin uncertain, possibly from *larick (Northern England) (an unattested variant of lark (“bird of the family Alaudidae; frolic or romp, some fun; prank; (East Suffolk, obsolete) unruly or wild person”, noun), from laverock (“(chiefly Northern England, Scotland, archaic) lark (bird)”); compare the variant forms lairock, larrock (chiefly Northern England), larick, larrick (chiefly Scotland)) + -kin (diminutive suffix). However, the Oxford English Dictionary notes that it is not clear why a word attested in the West Midlands (particularly Warwickshire and Worcestershire) and in Southwest England (Cornwall) would be derived from a word from Northern England. Other suggestions include the following: * The word is an Irish policeman’s pronunciation of larking (“engaging in careless adventure, frolicking; engaging in harmless pranking, sporting”), heard by a reporter in a Melbourne police court around 1870. The Oxford English Dictionary states there is no evidence of such an incident having been reported in the local newspapers of the time, and that in any case the word is attested earlier in Cornwall, England (since the early 19th century), and in Australia (at least from 1867: see...
Words formed from larrikin
Questions about larrikin
- What does larrikin mean?
- Larrikin means a young, brash, and impertinent, and possibly violent, troublemaker, especially one who is a gang member; a hooligan.
- How do you use larrikin in a sentence?
- How dare you talk to me like that, you young larrikin?
- What part of speech is larrikin?
- Larrikin can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce larrikin?
- Larrikin is pronounced /ˈlæɹɪk(ɪ)n/ (UK).
- What is the plural of larrikin?
- The plural of larrikin is larrikins.
Words near larrikin in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: larrikin (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-larrikin.ogg.
Cite this entry: “larrikin.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/larrikin. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.