Carrack

Alternative forms

• carack
• carrick

Origin

From French caraque (compare Spanish and Portuguese carraca, Italian caracca), from Latin carraca, from Latin carrus ("wagon"); or perhaps from Arabic.

Noun

1. (now historical) A large European sailing vessel of the 14th to 17th centuries similar to a caravel but square-rigged on the foremast and mainmast and lateen-rigged on the mizzenmast.