Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A baby; a child; especially, the child of a member of any negroid race.
- Little; small; as, a piccaninny handful.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Alternative form of
pickaninny .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun (ethnic slur) offensive term for a Black child
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Encumbered with the "piccaninny," and wearied with the long ceaseless struggle through the sand, Colin lingered behind his companions.
The Boy Slaves Mayne Reid 1850
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These, of all sizes, from the "piccaninny" to the "good-sized chunk of
The Quadroon Adventures in the Far West Mayne Reid 1850
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George ignored the piccaninny, but took the pigling to his heart, ever and anon assuring the community that very soon it would be fat and tender.
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A tipsy, disorderly, vindictive debil-debil it was, that made the boldest piccaninny shriek with dismay.
My Tropic Isle 2003
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If, said they, he was ever lucky enough to snap up a plump piccaninny — girl preferred — he would cut her to pieces with a shell-knife and use her for bait.
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All scornfully out-voted him, and to this day the blacks assert that “a piccaninny debil-debil” so closely resembles a flying-fox that none but a black boy can tell the difference.
My Tropic Isle 2003
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The piccaninny of the remote past chuckled gleefully as the jerked leaf returned to it.
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They declared that while they had slept a piccaninny
My Tropic Isle 2003
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From the appearance of the camps, and the age of the islander who took part in the various searches, and who was ready to admit that though pearl-shell hooks were used when he was a piccaninny he had never seen one made, I judge the age of these relics of a prehistoric art to be between thirty and forty years.
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I was wont to point out that since the sea presented an impassable barrier, the sand spit, drawn out to a fine point, was just the spot where a piccaninny might be easily rounded up, if it were detected in a preoccupied mood.
My Tropic Isle 2003
she commented on the word piccaninny
I certainly didn't expect this to mean what it does! OED says it's from Portuguese pequeno, small — the word is evidently one of those diffused around the Atlantic coasts through the Portuguese-based pidgins associated with trade (and esp. the slave trade) in the 17th century.
At least we still have pinkaninny, piccalilli, and piccadilly. :(
August 3, 2008
bilby commented on the word piccaninny
My impression is that piccaninny was not that pejorative in Australia. The town I grew up in had a Piccaninny Lane which led to an Aboriginal reserve. I have never heard any members of the Aboriginal community complaining about the street name as being demeaning; on the contrary, they see it as part of their heritage. The reality is that Aboriginal people were called far worse things and piccaninny has acquired a smattering of nostalgia.
August 3, 2008
mollusque commented on the word piccaninny
See peekeeneenee.
August 3, 2008
skipvia commented on the word piccaninny
Highly pejorative term in the southern US--as offensive to most people as nigger. Both are terms that actually pain me to commit to paper or page.
August 4, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word piccaninny
I echo skipvia's comments--extremely offensive in the United States. Also I have seen it spelled pickaninny more often than this spelling.
August 4, 2008