different between buccaneer vs corsair

English

Alternative forms

• bucanier (obsolete)
• buccanier (archaic)

Etymology

From French boucanier, from boucaner (“to smoke or broil meat and fish, to hunt wild beasts for their skins”), from boucan (“(Tupi-style) grill”), from Old Tupi mokaém, bokaém (“wooden grill”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?b?k??n??(?)/
• Rhymes: -??(?)

Noun

buccaneer (plural buccaneers)

1. (nautical) Any of a group of seamen who cruised on their own account on the Spanish Main and in the Pacific in the 17th century, who were similar to pirates but did not prey on ships of their own nation.
2. A pirate.

Synonyms

• privateer, pirate, see also Thesaurus:pirate

Derived terms

• buccaneering
• buccaneerish

Translations

Verb

buccaneer (third-person singular simple present buccaneers, present participle buccaneering, simple past and past participle buccaneered)

1. To engage in piracy against any but one's own nation's ships.
   • 1963, John Day, Arthur Henry Bullen (editor), The Works of John Day, page v

     In 1596 and 1597 he bucaneered against Sao Thomi, the Portuguese slaving settlement off the coast of West Africa, and in the Spanish Main

See also

• Jolly Roger
• skull and crossbones

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French corsaire, from Medieval Latin curs?rius (“pirate”), from Latin cursus (“course, a running; plunder, hostile inroad”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k??s??/

Noun

corsair (plural corsairs)

1. A French privateer, especially from the port of St-Malo
2. A privateer or pirate in general
   • 1840, Charles Dickens, Barnaby Rudge, Chapter 34.

     "If I had been born a corsair or a pirate, a brigand, genteel highwayman or patriot?and they're the same thing," thought Mr. Tappertit, musing among the nine-pins, "I should have been all right. But to drag out a ^[sic] ignoble existence unbeknown to mankind in general?patience! I will be famous yet."

3. The ship of privateers or pirates, especially of French nationality
4. A nocturnal assassin bug of the genus Rasahus, found in the southern USA.
5. A Californian market fish (Sebastes rosaceus).

Synonyms

• (pirate): see Thesaurus:pirate

Derived terms

• Turkish corsair

Translations

Further reading

• corsair on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Assassin bug on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Peiratinae on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Reduviidae on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons