raffish

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The Word of the Day for May 18 is:

raffish   \RAF-ish\   adjective 
      1 : marked by or suggestive of flashy vulgarity or 
crudeness 
     *2 : marked by a careless unconventionality : rakish 

Example sentence:
     Tristan was a raffish young rebel, a free spirit who sought 
every opportunity to flout convention and challenge authority.

Did you know?
     "Raffish" sounds like it should mean "resembling the raff." 
But what is "raff"? Originally, "raff" was rubbish. That term 
derives from the Middle English "raf," and it was being used for 
trash and refuse back in the 1400s. At around the same time, 
English speakers were also using the word "riffraff" to 
mean "disreputable characters" or "rabble." The origins 
of "riffraff" are distinct from the "rubbish" sense 
of "raff"; "riffraff" derives from an Anglo-French phrase 
meaning "one and all." By the mid-1600s, the similarities 
between "raff" and "riffraff" had prompted people to start using 
the two words as synonyms, and "raff" gained a "rabble" sense. 
It was that ragtag "raff" that gave rise to the 
adjective "raffish" in the late 1700s. 

* Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.