Etymology Probably from a Portuguese pidgin, from Portuguese pequenino (“boy, child”), noun use of pequenino (“tiny”), from pequeno (“small”). In South African uses probably partly after Afrikaans pikenien.
Governor,— that will make a good settler,— that's my Pickaninny!1817 January 4, Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Observer, Sydney:
Piccaninnies squatted around absorbing the lesson.1937, Ion L. Idriess, Over the Range, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, published 1947, page 60:
3 more examples
A small white donkey glimmered into sight, and behind it a milk cart, rattling its cans, and behind that ran a small and ragged piccaninny, a child of perhaps seven years, whose teeth were rattling so loudly they sounded like falling pebbles even across the width of the garden.1952, Doris Lessing, Martha Quest, Panther, published 1974, page 134:
What a relief it must be for Blair to get out of England. It is said that the Queen has come to love the Commonwealth, partly because it supplies her with regular cheering crowds of flag-waving piccaninnies2002 January 10, Boris Johnson, “If Blair's so good at running the Congo, let him stay there”, in The Daily Telegraph:
The pickaninny was an imagined, subhuman black juvenile who was typically depicted outdoors, merrily accepting (or even inviting) violence. The word (alternatively spelled “picaninny” or “piccaninny”) dates to the seventeenth century, […]2011, Robin Bernstein, Racial Innocence, NYU Press, →ISBN, page 34:
Etymology Probably from a Portuguese pidgin, from Portuguese pequenino (“boy, child”), noun use of pequenino (“tiny”), from pequeno (“small”). In South African uses probably partly after Afrikaans pikenien.