Pica
/ˈpiː.kə/noun
A craving to eat nonfood substances, or a speckled pattern in printing and art.
Did you know?The medical term pica comes from Latin for the magpie, a bird long associated with a supposedly erratic appetite, while the printing term pica is a completely separate word that later became a standard type-size unit.
Etymological Timeline
Latin (classical)
Latin
pica
“magpie”
Late Latin
Latin
pica
“a disorderly craving for strange or nonfood things, likened to a magpie’s reputed habits”
16th Century
English
pica
“a medical term for abnormal appetite or craving for nonfood substances”
18th Century
English
pica
“a printer’s unit of type size and measure”