Why this word is great
XEBEC — [Noun] A small, fast Mediterranean sailing ship, typically with two or three masts and an overhanging bow and stern, historically used for trade and by corsairs. From French chebec, from Spanish xabeque or Catalan xabec, from Arabic شُبَّاك (šubbāk, "fishing-net"), a humble origin for a vessel of such sleek predation. Unlike the galley, an ancient, oar-slaved warship of fixed combat, or the brig, a robust, square-rigged workhorse of the open Atlantic, the xebec is a hybrid creature of the inland sea—a corsair's dagger, a merchant's gamble, and a diplomat of contested shores. It is the rake of its lateen yards against a blinding white sky, the predatory sweep of its elongated prow through turquoise shallows, and the sudden, terrifying bloom of its sails from behind a rocky headland. A shape built for ambush and escape, it forever threads the narrow strait between merchantman and pirate.