Variations of English creoles gradually mixed with other creole forms based on French, Spanish and Portuguese, leading to a diverse range of English varieties throughout the Caribbean islands, as well as adjacent areas of Central and South America. Familiar words like buddy for brother, palaver for trouble, and pikni for child, arose out of these creoles, and words like barbecue, savvy, nitty-gritty, hammock, hurricane, savannah, canoe, cannibal, potato, tobacco and maize were also early introductions into English from the Caribbean, often via Spanish or Portuguese.