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piccaninny

British  
/ ˌpɪkəˈnɪnɪ /

noun

  1. offensive a small Black or Aboriginal child

  2. (modifier) tiny

    a piccaninny fire won't last long
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of piccaninny

C17: perhaps from Portuguese pequenino tiny one, from pequeno small

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

She ’memba dan’lin you on her knee, when you wa’ bit piccaninny, not bigger dan a ’possum.

From The Yellow Chief by Reid, Mayne

Me bin grow up little piccaninny longa bush....

From In the Musgrave Ranges by Sayce, Conrad H. (Conrad Harvey)

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.