Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
adj
Little, small.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, not-comparable
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A black child.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: colloquial, ethnic, offensive, slur
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
(ethnic slur) offensive term for a Black child
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: piccaninny, picaninny
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: Black, Black person, blackamoor, Negro, Negroid, child, kid, youngster, minor, shaver, nipper, small fry, tiddler, tike, tyke, fry, nestling
History
Probably from a Portuguese pidgin, from Portuguese pequenino (“boy, child”), noun use of pequenino (“tiny”), from pequeno (“small”). In South African uses probably partly after Afrikaans pikenien.
Across languages
1 source translations are retained for this English entry.
