Pict

//pɪkt// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A member of an ancient people of northern and central Scotland.

Example

More examples

"Glorious London! Leviathan of human greed; palpitating hot-bed of iniquity and joy; Greek, Roman, Spanish, Saxon, Kelt, Scot, Pict, Norman and Dane have swept over thee like winter storms; and the mighty Cæsar, Julius of old, with a myriad of bucklered warriors and one hundred galleons of sailors, triple-oared mariners, defying wave and fate, have ploughed the placid face of Father Thames, startling the loud cry of hawk and bittern as his royal prows grated on thy strand, or skimmed over the marshes of thy infancy."

Etymology

From Latin Pictus, probably rendering a Pictish autonym; see the Latin entry for details. Compare Old English Peohtas, which appears to show the effects of Grimm's law.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.