Street
pirogue
What does pirogue mean?
A narrow, flat-bottomed boat — traditionally hand-carved from a single cypress log — used to navigate the shallow bayous and marshes of south Louisiana. So shallow-drafted Cajuns joke it can float on a heavy dew. Cypress originals are now mostly aluminum or fiberglass, but the name and the silhouette didn't change.
"Granddad poled his pirogue through the cypress knees, checking crab traps before sunup."
Origin
From Louisiana French, via Caribbean Spanish 'piragua', ultimately from a Carib/Galibi word for a dugout canoe.
Frequently asked questions
What does pirogue mean?
A pirogue is a flat-bottomed Cajun canoe built to glide through the shallow bayou.
How do you use pirogue in a sentence?
"They poled the pirogue through the swamp at first light."
Where does the word pirogue come from?
It reached Louisiana Cajun culture via French, and is used across the region for these shallow-draft boats.
Study it as flashcards or scroll it in Vocabulary Flow — saved to your collection.
