The Spanish word 'pelucón' comes from combining the Spanish word 'peluca' (meaning 'wig') with the augmentative suffix '-ón'. The word 'peluca' itself was borrowed from French 'perruque' (meaning 'wig'). Originally, 'pelucón' literally meant 'large wig', but it later developed a figurative meaning to refer to a wealthy or important person - likely because elaborate, large wigs were historically associated with the wealthy elite and aristocracy in European society.

The simpler and more common Spanish word 'peluca' (meaning 'wig') is directly related to 'pelucón', as it is its base word. While 'peluca' maintains its literal meaning of 'wig', 'pelucón' took on the additional metaphorical meaning of 'wealthy person' through the association of elaborate wigs with social status.

While English 'peruke' (an archaic word for a wig) comes from the same French source 'perruque', it's not commonly used in modern English. However, the concept of wigs as status symbols in the 17th-18th centuries is well reflected in English terms like 'bigwig', which, similar to 'pelucón', came to mean an important or wealthy person.