Pronunciation: blæ-gê(r)d • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: A scoundrel, a villain, a rogue, a ruffian, a dastardly knave, a miscreant or, to put it another way, a real sleazeball.
Notes: 
The spelling and pronunciation of today's Good Word are sharply disjointed, so beware of the pronunciation above! Our British cousins, from whom we inherited the pronunciation of this word, often overlook the middles of words (compare Worcestershire [wu-stêr-shir] and forecastle, also spelled fo'c's'le). It was they who reduced St. Clair to Sinclair, too. Now, we have blackguard and all its kin, blackguardly, the adjective, and blackguardry, the stuff of which blackguards are made, as the blackguardry of blackguardly behavior—all pronounced with a silent CK!
In Play: Here is a lovely old name for knaves and dastards that is much more expressive than the vulgarities that often slip from our lips when we become angry: "The blackguard pulled the chair out from under me just as I was sitting down and broke the disk with my presentation that I was carrying in my back pocket!" Unfortunately, you will meet blackguards at home as well as at work: "Phil Anders told me that he loved me so I introduced him to my family. Now the blackguard is going out with my sister!"
Back when I was single I went out with too many blackgaurds but that has all changed now that I have found my prince!
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