Friday word: Picaresque

[med_cat]

A Spanish-origin word this time :)
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pi·ca·resque, adjective \ˌpi-kə-ˈresk, ˌpē-\

: of or relating to rogues or rascals; also : of, relating to, suggesting, or being a type of fiction dealing with the episodic adventures of a usually roguish protagonist

Examples:

Cloister and Hearth is a picaresque historical novel. (This novel was one of Arthur Conan Doyle's favourite books.)

...As wages of our picaresque,
Bag lunches bolted at my desk
Must stand as fealty to you
For each expensive rendezvous....(From Peter De Vries' "To His Importunate Mistress"; the entire poem can be read in this previous post to this comm.)

Etymology:
Spanish picaresco, from pícaro, rogue, knave, villain, loafer

First Known Use: 1810

Comments

[insaneladybug.livejournal.com]

LOL. Awesome! I had no idea there was a word for such stories.

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

I had no idea The Cloister and the Hearth was picaresque. Summaries of Victorian literature make it sound like dull moralizing.

---L.