A scoundrel is a man who behaves badly and cannot be trusted — especially one who cheats, lies, or tricks people out of money. It is a strong word, but it often does not sound as cold as criminal. It belongs to stories, old plays, and slightly theatrical complaints: 'You scoundrel!' A parent might say it with a half-smile. In a police report you would expect thief or fraudster instead. It almost always means a man; for a woman, English reaches for other words. The origin is cloudy: older spellings like scondrel and skoundrell sit on the page, and then the trail stops. A link to the northern English or Scottish verb scunner, 'to shrink back in disgust,' has been suggested, but that is only a possibility.