piquant

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French piquant (“pricking, stinging, irritating”),^[2][3][4][5] the present participle of piquer (“to prick, pierce, sting”).^[2][3][6][7] In French the word was a noun for something thrown (1372) or a sharp point (1416), and an adjective for a sharp taste (1398) and for biting or stinging (1480).^[2] The French verb also gave pique and is related to pike.^[3][6][2] Etymonline derives it from pic (“sharp point, spike”), perhaps of Germanic or Celtic origin, and mentions another explanation, through Vulgar Latin *piccō (“to prick, pierce”) from Latin picus (“woodpecker”).^[3] Compare Spanish picante (1596) and Italian piccante (before 1597).^[2] Some early English forms altered the ending, and one followed the Italian adjective.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a noun, a sharp point, specifically a hedgehog's spine: 1494, in the Scots Loutfut Manuscript (rare, obsolete by 1862).^[2] As an adjective, severe, bitter, stinging to the feelings: 1521, in a letter of Thomas Wolsey in the State Papers of Henry VIII.^[2][4][5] Etymonline dates it to the 1520s.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The first adjectival sense, sharp or stinging to the feelings, is now archaic.^[5][8] A sense "sharply pointed" lasted from 1549 to 1650.^[2] In 1645 the word was first used both of food with a pleasantly sharp taste, by James Howell, and of something stimulating or charming to the mind.^[2] Barnhart dates the taste sense to about 1645 and the mental sense to 1695,^[4] and Etymonline gives the 1640s and the 1690s.^[3] Johnson (1755) defined it as "pricking; piercing; stimulating" and "sharp; tart; pungent; severe", quoting Addison on rock "as piquant to the tongue as salt".^[9] Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories notes that pungent, poignant and piquant share senses of sharpness and zest because of their origins: the first two go back to Latin pungō (“to prick, sting”), and the French verb behind piquant means the same.^[10] A rare noun for a sharp-tasting dish or drink is recorded from 1843.^[2]

Timeline

• 1494 – noun, a sharp point, a hedgehog's spine (obsolete).^[2]
• 1521 – severe, bitter, stinging to the feelings.^[2][4][5]
• 1549 – sharply pointed (obsolete by 1650).^[2]
• 1645 – of food, pleasantly sharp or pungent in taste.^[2][4]
• 1645 – stimulating or agreeable to the mind, charming.^[2]
• 1843 – noun, a dish or drink with a sharp taste.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Having a pleasantly sharp, tangy or spicy taste: a piquant tomato relish.^[11][5][2]
2. Pleasantly stimulating or exciting to the mind; engagingly provocative or charming: a piquant bit of gossip.^[11][5][2]
3. (archaic) Disagreeably sharp; stinging or wounding to the feelings.^[5][8]

Noun

1. (rare) A dish or drink with a sharp taste.^[2]

Word family

• piquancy
• piquantly
• piquantness

Related words

• pique
• pike
• pungent
• poignant

Usage notes

The French feminine form piquante is also used, less commonly.^[5][8] Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories groups piquant with pungent and poignant as words for sharpness and zest.^[10]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins