What is the difference between a buccaner and a pirate?

Answer 1

There were buccaneers, privateers and pirates. All operated by seizing ships, stealing their cargoes and killing their crews.

Buccaneers worked the Caribbean Sea area, specialized in attacking Spanish merchantmen, and usually operated under a commission from the British Crown--Britain and Spain were at war at the time, and Britain found buccaneers to be a cheap navy.

Privateers also operated under British commission, but worked the trade routes outside the Caribbean.

Pirates operate without commission. They're criminals.

Answer 2

A buccaneer is a specific name for a pirate that operated in the Mediterranean

Answer 3

The two words generally mean the same thing.
Only Caribbean pirates were ever called Buccaneers, pirates in other areas of the world were never called Buccaneers.