# picaresque

> English word · Adjective · IPA /pɪkəˈɹɛsk/ · frequency rank #85,648

## Definitions
1. Of or pertaining to adventurers or rogues.
2. Characteristic of a genre of Spanish satiric novel dealing with the adventures of a roguish hero.

## Etymology
From picaro (“adventurer, rogue”) + -esque (suffix meaning ‘in the style or manner of’ forming adjectives), modelled after Spanish picaresco (“in the style or manner of a picaro; picaresque”), from pícaro (“rogue”) + -esco (suffix forming adjectives indicating a relation). Compare French picaresque (attested later than the English word), Italian picaresco, Portuguese picaresco.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/picaresque