pecos
pecos Lexical Profile
• noun
American A major river in the southwestern United States that flows southeast from northern New Mexico through West Texas, eventually emptying into the Rio Grande.
American A city located in West Texas, known historically as the site of the world's first rodeo and deeply associated with the region's cattle ranching heritage.
American A reference to Pecos Bill, a legendary cowboy in American tall tales known for his drastically exaggerated frontier feats during the westward expansion.
"Folklore claims that Pecos Bill was raised by coyotes and used a live rattlesnake as a lasso to wrangle cattle."
Word Nuance & Usage
Almost exclusively written capitalized as 'Pecos'. It frequently functions attributively as part of compound proper nouns, most notably the 'Pecos River' or the folklore hero 'Pecos Bill'.
Word Origin & Etymology
Derived from Spanish 'Pecos', which was adapted from the Keresan (a Native American language family in New Mexico) name for the indigenous Pueblo settlement located near the river.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.