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Pickaninny (also pickaninnie) is a Pidgin word
form derived from the Portuguese pequenino ("little") via Lingua
franca. According to one hypothesis, pidgin has the same etimology.
In the Southern United States, it was long used to refer to African American children, possibly encouraged by the false friend cognate to "picking", as they were commonly set to work picking
cotton in the era of slavery and the
de-facto debt peonage that followed.
The term was still in some popular use as late as the 1930s, but has fallen out of use
and is considered very insulting and racist.
See also: Nigger (word)
For the chess term, see chess problem
terminology.
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