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pico

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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word pico

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1235 Fuero de Alcalá More words from the 13th century
Inherited from
Latin beccus
Ultimate origin
Latin beccus
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin beccus
Spanish pico
Derivations
From the same root
Italian beccare ← beccus

Pronunciation

  • /ˈpiko/, [ˈpi.ko][1]

Forms

pico m (plural picos)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin beccus (“beak”), a Gaulish word that Suetonius explains as “a cock's beak”.[2][3][1] The older bico took its /p/ from the verb picar “to peck”.[4][1] Corominas shows that the noun is not simply derived from the verb: Portuguese bico and similar forms in French, Rhaeto-Romance and Sardinian dialects point to the Latin word, which the verb influenced more and more.[2][4] The Latin word gave Italian becco, French bec, Occitan bec and Catalan bec.[2][5]

Corominas links the Celtic word with Irish bacc (“hook”), Welsh bach (“hook”) and Breton bach.[2] Wiktionary reconstructs Gaulish *bekkos, from Proto-Celtic *bekkos.[1] For Corominas the senses “mountain peak” and “pick” come from the verb, through the idea of a pointed object, as in French pic and Catalan pic beside their words for the beak; the DLE puts all the senses under one word from Latin.[2][4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first records of the bird's beak are in Juan Manuel and Juan Ruiz, about 1330–1335.[2][4] The CDH has it a century earlier in the Fuero de Alcalá (c. 1235): hens that damage a field do not incur a fine si las uñas e los picos ovieren cortados “if their claws and beaks have been cut”.[6] Place names with pico “summit”, from 1085, and a document of 1124 with un pico “a point of land” are older still.[2]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's prose already uses pico for the beak, for any pointed part (el pico dela nariz) and for the pick used to break walls.[7] The Autoridades has the beak, the points of a hat and the stonemason's pick, and quotes Covarrubias's derivation from Hebrew pi “mouth”.[8] Since the beak is the bird's mouth, the word is used of a person's mouth in phrases such as cerrar el pico “to shut up” and pico de oro “a fine speaker”.[3][1]

The sense “the amount by which a number exceeds a round figure” (y pico) is recorded in the Americas from 1550, in Venezuela, otras 200 leguas y pico.[9][3] Modern senses include the spout of a vessel, a nappy, a small breadstick and a colloquial “peck, quick kiss”.[3][1] In much of Latin America pico is the neck of a bottle, and in parts of it a vulgar word for the penis.[10][1]

Timeline

  • 1085 – pico “summit” in place names of charters.[2]
  • c. 1235 – los picos of hens in the Fuero de Alcalá.[6]
  • 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario describes birds with long green beaks.[7]
  • c. 1330–1335 – Juan Manuel and Juan Ruiz, the first records in the DCECH and the BDELC.[2][4]
  • c. 1495 – Nebrija glosses pico de ave as Latin rostrum.[11]
  • 1513 – the derivative piquera.[4]
  • 1550 – y pico “and a bit more” in Venezuela.[9]
  • 1739 – the Autoridades lists the beak, a sharp point and the pick.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The beak or bill of a bird.[3][1]
  2. A pointed part that sticks out of a surface or an edge.[3][1]
  3. A stonemason's tool with two opposite points on a long handle.[3]
  4. A pickaxe, for digging hard ground and moving stones.[3][1]
  5. The spout or lip of a vessel; the nozzle of an oil lamp.[3][1]
  6. The pointed summit of a mountain; a mountain with such a summit.[3][1]
  7. A triangular nappy for babies.[3]
  8. (Spain, usually plural) A small crisp breadstick.[3]
  9. The small amount by which a quantity exceeds a round number; an unspecified odd amount: Son las seis y pico.[3][1]
  10. An undetermined sum of money, usually a large one.[3]
  11. The pincer (pinza) of a crustacean's front legs.[3]
  12. (colloquial) The mouth; talkativeness.[3][1]
  13. (colloquial) A peck, a quick kiss.[1]

Word family

  • picotazo
  • picotear
  • piquera
  • picudo
  • picar
  • Portuguese bico
  • French bec

Usage notes

Pico “woodpecker” is a separate word for the DLE and Moliner, from Latin pīcus, with pico barreno and pico verde;[3][12][13][14] Segura dates it to the 14th century and Nebrija glossed Latin picus with it.[3][12][13][14] Phrases of pico “beak” include andar de picos pardos “to go out on the town” and hincar el pico “to die”.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 525
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. pico
  4. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. pico
  5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1013
  6. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. pico
  7. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. pico
  8. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 258
  9. ^ a b Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. pico
  10. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. pico
  11. ^ Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. pico1
  12. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. pico
  13. ^ a b Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 565
  14. ^ a b Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. pico2

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Pico.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/pico. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

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