Pict

[ pikt ]

noun

1. a member of an ancient people of uncertain origin who inhabited parts of northern Britain, fought against the Romans, and in the 9th century a.d. united with the Scots.

Pict

/ pɪkt /

noun

1. a member of any of the peoples who lived in Britain north of the Forth and Clyde in the first to the fourth centuries ad : later applied chiefly to the inhabitants of NE Scotland. Throughout Roman times the Picts carried out border raids

Word History and Origins

Origin of Pict¹

before 900; back formation from Middle English Pictes (plural) < Latin Pictī literally, painted ones, plural of pictus, past participle of pingere to paint; replacing Middle English Peghttes, Old English Peohtas, Pihtas ≪ Latin, as above

Word History and Origins

Origin of Pict¹

Old English Peohtas; later forms from Late Latin Pictī painted men, from pingere to paint

Example Sentences

But for me the eldritch revenge story, “Worms of the Earth,” contains the haunting phrase that sums up not only its protagonist, the Pict chieftain Bran Mak Morn, but nearly all of Howard’s formidable, introspective heroes: “He walked like the last man on the day after the end of the world.”

From Washington Post

Last year, to ensure that its technicians could safely transfer between small boats and offshore wind turbines, Ørsted signed a deal to invest in the Scottish company Pict Offshore, which had developed a hoist system.

From Washington Times

Robbie The Pict, a former policeman and RAF serviceman, took a leading role in the campaign and was charged for non-payment more than 100 times, leading to 25 convictions.

From BBC

Robbie the Pict told the documentary: "It is a matter of justice. We are still fighting it and we will win it."

From BBC

Having stood for an hour in a voting line at an Upper East Side polling station—this despite the reality that ours is as blue a precinct as any ancient Pict could have painted himself with woad—one begins, particularly in a humid high-school basement walled off from cell phone reception, to mentally reorganize the voting procedure.

From The New Yorker