caravel

Meanings

1. A light, usually lateen-rigged sailing ship used by the Portuguese and Spanish for about 300 years from the 15th century, first for trade and later for voyages of exploration.

Etymology

From Middle French caravelle, from Old French caruelle, carvelle (“caravel”), from Old Galician-Portuguese caravela (“caravel”), a diminutive of caravo, carabo (“type of small vessel”), from Late Latin carabus (“small wicker boat decked with hide”), from Ancient Greek κᾱ́ρᾰβος (kā́răbos, “type of light ship; kind of beetle, probably a longhorn beetle; kind of crustacean, probably a crayfish”).