xebec

- 3 dictionary results

xe⋅bec

[zee-bek]

–noun

a small, three-masted vessel of the Mediterranean, formerly much used by corsairs, now employed to some extent in commerce.

Also, chebeck, zebec, zebeck.

Origin:
1750–60; alter. of earlier chebec < F < Catalan xabec or Sp xabeque (now jabeque), both < Ar shabbāk

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To xebec

xe·bec also ze·bec or ze·beck (zē'běk')

n. A small three-masted Mediterranean vessel with both square and lateen sails.

[French chebec, probably from Catalan xabec, from Arabic šabbāk, from šabaka, to entwine, fasten; see śbk in Semitic roots.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

xebec

"small three-masted vessel," 1756, from Fr. chébec, from It. sciabecco, ult. from Ar. shabbak "a small warship." Altered by infl. of cognate Sp. xabeque, which shows the old way of representing the Sp. sound now spelled -j-.

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