September 26, 2006

A student of mine asked the question: "What does mischievous mean?' We noticed the prefix (mis-) which means wrongly, badly, amiss or ill. We then noticed the suffix (-ous) which makes adjectives meaning characterized by. Then what does the base chiev or chief mean when you look at the word mischief? We are puzzled because chief means head or boss. How can this have anything to do with mischievous? Your help is needed!