impish

Etymology

imp +‎ -ish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɪmpɪʃ/

Adjective

impish (comparative more impish, superlative most impish)

1. mischievous; of or befitting an imp.
   • 1897, H. G. Wells, chapter 1, in A Story of the Stone Age‎:

     Wild-eyed youngsters they were, with matted hair and little broad-nosed impish faces, covered (as some children are covered even nowadays) with a delicate down of hair.

   • 1942, Virginia Woolf, chapter 20, in The Death of the Moth, and other essays‎:

     But the antics of Mr. Moore, though impish and impudent, are, after all, so amusing and so graceful that the governess, it is said, sometimes hides behind a tree to watch.