What is "pikey"

Etymology 1 n. (rfv-sense) A low-ranking soldier who merely carries a pike; a pikeman. Etymology 2

n. (context British pejorative offensive English) A working-class (often underclass) person; can vary from specifically Irish travellers to gypsies or travellers from any ethnic background, but now increasingly used for any socially undesirable person, with negative connotations of benefit fraud, theft, single-parent families and living on run-down estates. Etymology 3

vb. (context UK slang derogatory English) To steal.

Pikey or "pikie" is a slang term, which may be pejorative when so intended but not necessarily so, used mainly in England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales to refer to people who are of the Traveller Community, In a pejorative sense it means "a lower-class person", perhaps 'coarse' or 'disreputable'.

It is not well received among Irish Travellers or Romas, as it is considered an ethnic slur.