Pict

American  

[pikt] / pɪkt /

noun

1. a member of an ancient people of uncertain origin who inhabited parts of northern Britain, fought against the Romans, and in the 9th century a.d. united with the Scots.

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Pict British  

/ pɪkt /

noun

1. a member of any of the peoples who lived in Britain north of the Forth and Clyde in the first to the fourth centuries _ad : later applied chiefly to the inhabitants of NE Scotland. Throughout Roman times the Picts carried out border raids

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Etymology

Origin of Pict

before 900; back formation from Middle English Pictes (plural) < Latin Pictī literally, painted ones, plural of pictus, past participle of pingere to paint; replacing Middle English Peghttes, Old English Peohtas, Pihtas ≪ Latin, as above

Example Sentences

Robbie the Pict, who legally changed his name from Brian Robertson and founded the mini state of "Pictland" on an acre of land in Skye in 1977, led the protests.

From BBC • Oct. 16, 2025

Prominent campaigner Robbie the Pict said the convictions should be quashed as a matter of principle.

From BBC • Oct. 16, 2025

So the saint ordered another Pict to dive into the water.

From Time Magazine Archive

The inhabitants had identified him for a Pict, as, by some singular confusion of name, they called the dark and dwarfish aboriginal people of the land.

From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 16 (of 25) by Stevenson, Robert Louis

It is now quite certain that we are a second-rate lot, and came out of Cunningham or Clydesdale, therefore British folk; so that you are Cymry on both sides, and I Cymry and Pict.

From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 25 (of 25) by Lang, Andrew