Sense file
How the sense moved
The archive follows the dated record first, then reads the social or rhetorical pressure that hardened, softened, narrowed, or reversed the word.
Older meaning
A boy, servant, or male attendant.
Modern meaning
A rogue, cheat, or dishonest man.
Research lens
Good for showing how service rank and dependency can be rewritten as character suspicion.
Meaning trail
Root
boy or servant
The earliest word points to youth and service.
Older sense
attendant
A functional household role came before the insult.
Now
rogue
Service rank became a moral suspicion.