Etymograph

English

picaroon

Picaroon comes from Spanish picarón ‘naughty, feisty’, and goes back to pícaro ‘rogue’.

  1. Spanishc. 1500–presentpícaro1‘rogue’
  2. Spanishc. 1500–presentpicarón1‘naughty, feisty’
  3. Englishtodaypicaroon1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English picaroon

Lineage

  1. Spanishc. 1500–presentpícaroWiktionary, English picaroon‘rogue’
  2. Spanishc. 1500–presentpicarónWiktionary, English picaroon‘naughty, feisty’
  3. EnglishtodaypicaroonWiktionary, English picaroon

Every English word from Spanish pícaro

Another origin of picaroon

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bew-uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*pikōnąuncertain
  3. Frankishc. 250–700*pikkōnuncertain
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400piquer‘to pierce with the tip of a sword’uncertain
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600picquer‘to sting’
  6. Frenchc. 1600–presentpiquer‘to prick’
  7. Frenchc. 1600–presentpique‘pike’
  8. Frenchc. 1600–presentpiqueron
  9. Englishtodaypicaroon

Today it means

noun A pirate or picaro.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “picaroon”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Spanish pícaro / picaroon

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