Boucan
/ˈbuːkæn/noun
A framework or grill for smoking or drying meat, especially in Caribbean usage; also the smoked meat produced by that method.
Did you know?French boucan was borrowed from a Caribbean Indigenous word for a wooden smoking rack, and boucaniers were literally “smokers” of meat before the word drifted toward the pirate image.
Etymological Timeline
Caribbean Indigenous languages
Arawak/Taíno
bukan
“A wooden framework used for smoking or drying meat”
16th Century
French
boucan
“A smoking rack; smoked meat prepared on it”
17th Century
French
boucanier
“A person who smoked meat on a boucan, especially in the Caribbean”
17th Century
English
buccaneer
“A Caribbean hunter or seaman, later a pirate”