Pemiscot County is a
county located in the southeastern
Bootheel in the
U.S. state of
Missouri. As of the
2010 census, the population was 18,296. The largest city and
county seat is
Caruthersville. The county was officially organized on February 19, 1851, and is named for the local bayou, taken from the
Fox dialect word,
pem-eskaw, meaning "liquid mud". Bordering the Mississippi River and floodplain, the county has been devoted to agricultural development and commodity crops. With mechanization of agriculture, its population has declined since a peak in 1940.