Pickaback

Part of speech: adverb, noun, adjective

Definitions

1. Borne on the back or shoulders of another person, as a small child is carried on an adult's back
2. Transported aloft by being held up on someone's back or perched across their shoulders
3. Describing a ride given by hoisting a person onto the back or shoulders of another

Etymology: "Pickaback" is an older spelling of "piggyback," and the path from one to the other runs through a chain of corruptions. The earlier form was "pick-pack," which described carrying a load on the back in the manner of a pack, the way a porter would bear goods. Over time that compound was reshaped into "pickaback," with the second half of the sound shifting toward the familiar "back." The more recent "piggyback" came from a further distortion of "pickaback," so the modern word is a corruption of a corruption. Nothing about a pig is involved in the original; the animal entered the picture only because the altered spelling sounded like it might be. The word has therefore moved from a description of a load carried like a pack to a playful term for a child riding on a parent's shoulders.

Synonyms: piggyback, pickapack