piccanin, piccaninny, noun and & adjective

/ˈpɪkənɪn//pɪkəˈnɪni/
Forms:
α. picaninni, picaninnyShow more picaninni, picaninny, piccaninny, pickaninny, pikienienie, pikinini.
β. picanin, picanninShow more picanin, picannin, piccanin, piccannin, pickanin, pikkanien.
Origin:
PortugueseShow more From West Indian creole picaninny, adaptation of Portuguese pequenino very little, tiny.
A. noun
1. Offensive to many. a. A small Black African child. b. A young Black African boy. See also kwedini, umfaan sense 3.
Note:
The α forms are used of Black children also in U.S. and Australian English.
α.
[1851 J.F. Churchill Diary. (Killie Campbell Africana Library MS37) 29 JuneWe were soon surrounded inside by men women and picannies laughing and chattering all the time.]
1855 in J.W. Colenso Ten Weeks in Natal (Addendum) 3‘What will the poor little piccaninnies do, Boy?’
1866 W.C. Holden Past & Future 169The mother..gives birth to the child and afterwards proceeds on her journey with but little inconvenience, having her ‘picaninni’ tied to her back.
1905 P. Gibbon Vrouw Grobelaar 37There was a little Kafir picaninny, as black as a crow, that was sent to play about near him every day.
1912 F. Bancroft Veldt Dwellers 135The little chocolate coloured piccaninnies crept out from under their karosses in the huts.
1939 M. Rorke Melina Rorke 141Complained bitterly about his white baby having to live like a piccaninny.
1970 F. Gunthorp Informant, Bloemfontein, Free StateThe piccaninny was half-starved, because his parents had been unable to scrape together enough money to purchase food.
1986 F. Karodia Daughters of Twilight 76‘Please, Baas,’ the man pleaded. ‘How many pickaninnies you got?’ the Afrikaner fired at the man. ‘Five, Baas.’
β.
1908 Rand Daily Mail 11 Sept. 7Some three years ago the Amalaita made its appearance. The nucleus was a number of piccanins.
1908 M.C. Bruce New Tvl 33Several hundreds of Kafirs have taken their places. Many of them are ‘piccanins’, half-grown lads.
1914 Farmer’s Annual 130The shepherd must be..not the ‘picannin’ who spends the day catching meerkats or sleeping, but the most intelligent native available.
1920 R.Y. Stormberg Mrs Pieter de Bruyn 38This note shall be sent by piccanin as soon as day breaks.
1939 Outspan 20 Oct. 70 (advt)Jim is a pickanin learning to be a houseboy. And he’s learning fast.
1947 C.R. Prance Antic Mem. 134Plaatje the piccanin caught using his Missis’s best face-cloth to swab out the bath.
1952 H. Klein Land of Silver Mist 116Next morning when I tried to photograph a naked piccanin in the kraal the frightened father of the child dashed out yelling ‘Tagati’ (witchcraft) and snatched him away.
1961 T. Matshikiza Choc. for my Wife 7This girl with you is she your wife and these two piccanins are your children?
1961 A. Fugard Notebks (1983) 23My friends were the picannins on the farm. Race relations did not exist for me.
1972 Evening Post 5 Feb. 6The few non-whites who braved the elements to follow battling golfers round the sand-blasted Wedgwood course, were vastly outnumbered by Black caddies and ragged piccanins.
1982 C. Hope Private Parts 9An unkempt little ‘piccanin’ ran to unhook the big farm gate. The truck chugged and waited.
1983 Drum Jan. 40When he graduated from piccannin to ndoda I was the best man at his wedding.
2. A small child.
α.
1882 J. Nixon Among Boers 201Three or four native huts with little black picaninnies and Kaffir dogs crawling about.
1917 S.T. Plaatje Native Life 89A kind Dutchman and his noble wife, on whose property..little black piccaninnies still played about in spite of the law.
1917 S.T. Plaatje Native Life 273The naughty white piccaninnies who always insult inoffensive black passers-by.
1970 Forum Vol.6 No.2, 48You hit and kick me, me myself, an old man who has much love for you...You yourself were my little pikinini.
1981 M. Mzamane in Best of S. Afr. Short Stories (1991) 397‘Where can I refill this bottle, makwedini (boys)?’ The boys laughed derisively at being called pickaninnies.
β.
1908 M.C. Bruce New Tvl 7The Kafir piccanin shouts the morning papers..and as long as the sound is approximate, it does not matter about the sense.
1936 Williams & May I Am Black 190He might not strike them, for though they were piccanins, they were white piccanins, children of his white Baas.
1936 E. Rosenthal Old-Time Survivals 15The mode of harnessing has not changed since 1652, when the first wagons were put in use at the Cape...Nor has the institution of the leader-boy varied — usually a native piccanin known as the voorlooper.
1940 F.B. Young City of Gold 350I had a strange dream: I thought I saw a white child among the other piccanins.
1956 D. Jacobson Dance in Sun 25I’m not a little Kaffir piccanin. You can’t do what you like with me.
1970 K.M. Brand Informant, East London, Eastern CapeMy little piekanien will be three next month (small boy).
1991 S. Rorke Informant, Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha), Eastern CapePiccanin. A small child.
3. transferred sense. Offensive. Mining. A Black assistant who carries the bags of a White miner. Also attributive.
β.
1970 Informant, KimberleyPikanin, go and fetch the can (little native boy, or on the mines the boy with the miner).
1987 P. Van Niekerk in Weekly Mail 3 Apr. 3A dispute involving the refusal of black miner’s assistants to carry the bags of white miners. The ‘picanin’ system, in which a black worker is forced to look after the welfare of a white miner or supervisor, is a long-established practice on South African gold mines...The job of ‘picanin’ was to carry the ‘masters’ satchel which has food, clothes, newspapers and comics.
B. adjective
1. Small; young.
α.
1851 R.J. Garden Diary. I. (Killie Campbell Africana Library MS20981) 25 JuneRiding along we soon came to the Igana or Infant River which has a pretty little mouth in which a stork was fishing. The river itself is in reality a piccaninny one.
β.
1961 T.V. Bulpin White Whirlwind 233‘How old are you?’ ‘Nineteen.’ ‘Oh, you are a piccanin white man.’
2. slang. Special collocation. piccanin kaya, piccaninny kaya [from Rhodesian (Zimbabwean) English, ‘little house’ (-khaya is the noun stem for ‘house’ in the Nguni languages),] an outside lavatory or privy; PK. See also kleinhuisie.
α.
1966 I. Vaughan These Were my Yesterdays 151The old man went out late at night to ‘pic-a-ninny kaiah’, natives polite word for outdoor lavatory — no sewerage here in wilds.
1970 S. Sparks Informant, Fort Beaufort, Eastern CapeThe farm P.K. was situated in the backyard quite a way from the homestead. (Abbreviation of Picannini Khaya or Kia.)
1970 M.S. Wagener Informant, StrydenburgPikkanienie Kaaia. Outside Toilet.
1991 Informant, Grahamstown (now Makhanda, Eastern Cape)Picinniny Kaia. P.K. The toilet.
1994 R. Soal in Weekend Post 8 Jan. (Leisure) 3The WC, latrine, lavatory, convenience, [etc.]..and even our own ‘kleinhuisie’ and PK (picaninny khaya) — all are acceptable terms for the same facility.
β.
1968 L.G. Green Full Many Glorious Morning 50Such romantic survivals as the ‘piccanin kias’ rolled back the years. (I am not suggesting that many ‘piccanin kias’ are still in use but they are like historic monuments in suburban gardens.)
1991 N.P. Saunders Informant, Scottburgh, KwaZulu-NatalP.K. or Piccanin-kaya. A lavatory usually an outhouse with earth hole; privy.
1991 H. Phillips Informant, Johannesburg, GautengThe once-ubiquitous ‘long-drop’ or outside loo, i.e. ‘the small room’ or ‘piccanin kya’. Still used occasionally by the older generation, despite modern inside plumbing.
A small Black African child.
A young Black African boy. See also kwedini, umfaan sense 3.
A small child.
A Black assistant who carries the bags of a White miner. Also attributive.
Small; young.
Special collocation. piccanin kaya, piccaninny kayaan outside lavatory or privy; PK.
Entry Navigation

Visualise Quotations

Quotation summary

Senses

18511994

Browse Related Words

By Category

Titles and Modes of Address
Mining

By Origin

Portuguese

By Usage

derogatory or offensive
idiomatic
phuzamandla, nounn.pick-axe, nounn.
Copyright © 2025 Dictionary Unit for South African English