皮克特人指数世纪前，先于苏格兰人居住于福斯河以北的皮克塔维亚，也就是加勒多尼亚（现今的苏格兰）的先住民。

最早的文献中的皮克特“Pict”是出现在297年，古罗马时期的创作者Eumenius所著作的颂词里。此外，依照字本身的拉丁文含意，Picti常被认为有「被彩绘者」或「背刺青者」，但这个字的字源可能与凯尔特语族的语言有关：说盖尔亚支语言的凯尔特人以他们的语言称皮克特人为cruithne「克鲁恩亚人」，而说布立吞亚支语言的凯尔特人则以prydyn称呼他们，也就是「不列颠」Britain的出处。

The Picts were a tribal confederation of peoples who lived in what is today eastern and northern Scotland during the Late Iron Age and Early Medieval periods. They are thought to have been ethnolinguistically Celtic. Where they lived and what their culture was like can be inferred from the geographical distribution of brochs, Brittonic place name elements, and Pictish stones. Picts are attested to in written records from before the Roman conquest of Britain to the 10th century, when they are thought to have merged with the Gaels. They lived to the north of the rivers Forth and Clyde, and spoke the now-extinct Pictish language, which is thought to have been related to the Brittonic language spoken by the Britons who lived to the south of them.