A scamp is a mischievous person, especially a child, who gets into playful trouble but remains lovable. When a teacher calls a student a little scamp for pulling a harmless prank, it's actually affectionate: the word suggests someone whose tricks are more clever than mean, more amusing than harmful.

The classic scamp might sneak extra cookies, hide a friend's backpack as a joke, or find creative ways to avoid chores. What separates scamps from genuinely bad kids is that their mischief has a playful quality. A scamp makes people shake their heads and smile rather than get truly angry.

Think of characters like Tom Sawyer, who convinced his friends that whitewashing a fence was actually fun, or Dennis the Menace, whose schemes always had good intentions even when they created chaos. These are scamps: kids with energy, imagination, and a talent for bending rules without quite breaking them.

Adults sometimes use scamp when remembering their own childhood adventures: “I was quite a scamp at your age.” The word captures that special kind of troublemaking that people look back on fondly, the kind that shows spirit and creativity rather than cruelty or dishonesty.