ne'er-do-well vs varlet

ne'er-do-well

adj
  • Showing the characteristics of a ne'er-do-well: indolent, worthless, or roguish. 

noun
  • A person without a means of support; an idle, worthless person; a loafer; a person who is ineffectual, unsuccessful, or completely lacking in merit; a good-for-nothing. 

  • A person who is up to no good; a rogue. 

varlet

noun
  • Specifically, a youth acting as a knight's attendant at the beginning of his training for knighthood. 

How often have the words ne'er-do-well and varlet occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )