pickaninny
or pic·a·nin·ny, pic·ca·nin·ny
[pik-uh-nin-ee]
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noun, plural pick·a·nin·nies. Older Use: Now Offensive.
a term used to refer to a black child.
Origin of pickaninny
1645–55; probably ultimately < Portuguese pequenino, diminutive of pequeno small; as a word for “small child,” pickaninny and its variants are widespread in English-based creoles of the New World and West Africa; compare Jamaican English pickney, West African English pickin small child
Usage note
This is a dated term, originally used in a neutral or even affectionate way among slaves in the West Indies, but now perceived as insulting.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for pickaninny
Historical Examples of pickaninny
Just as I got out there came along the Pickaninny that had gone over on the rainbow.
Queer Stories for Boys and GirlsEdward Eggleston
Piccaninny, Pickaninny, pik′a-nin-i, n. a little child: an African or negro child.
Having bought a fowl from a native in a canoe, the native asked me if I wanted “Pickaninny stop along him fella.”
The Cruise of the SnarkJack London
Presently a Pickaninny came along with a small keg in his hands.
Queer Stories for Boys and GirlsEdward Eggleston
pickaninny
noun plural -nies
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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