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Etymology and origin of the French word pique

pique1 pike; spades

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1360–1370 Baudouin de Sebourc
Borrowed from
Middle Dutch pike
Ultimate origin
Middle Dutch pike

Pronunciation

Forms

pique f (plural piques)[1] In the card-game sense it is masculine, le pique, since 1680; it was feminine when first used alone in 1611.[2][3] The Académie spelled it picque in 1694 and 1718, pique from 1740.[2]

Etymology

The word for the weapon is borrowed from Middle Dutch pike, attested in that sense from 1290.[2][4][5] It is first found in texts from the north-east of France, often of the pikes of Flanders.[3][5] The Middle Dutch noun is derived from the verb pikken and compares with Middle Low German pek (“lance”) and Old English pic; the verb seems to come from the same expressive root as the Romance forms such as piquer, and a borrowing of the Dutch word from French has also been proposed.[3] Littré made it the feminine of pic;[6] Bloch and Wartburg and the DHLF keep it apart from Middle French pique (“pickaxe”), which is that feminine.[5][3]

The card suit is the same word, named after the lance-head marks on the cards; it became masculine after the names of the other three suits.[2][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1360–1370, in Baudouin de Sebourc, for a weapon with a long shaft and a flat, pointed iron head.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

From the weapon the word came to be a measure of length, about the length of a pike (1617), used in être à cent piques au-dessus de quelqu'un “to be far above someone” (1670), now obsolete.[3][2] The bullfighting sense, the picador's lance (1926), was taken again from Spanish.[3] By likeness it also names a paver's rod (1903) and the spike of an ice axe.[2][7]

At cards the suit first appears in Rabelais's phrase c'est bien rentré de picques (1534), later de picques noires (1552), “that is quite beside the point”, an allusion to bad cards coming into play.[2][3] The suit itself is named in 1611 and a single card of the suit in 1662.[2][3]

Timeline

  • 1290 – Middle Dutch pike is recorded as a weapon.[2]
  • 1360–1370 – Pique appears in Baudouin de Sebourc.[2][3]
  • 1480 – The derivative piquier “pikeman” is recorded.[3]
  • 1534 – Rabelais writes c'est bien rentré de picques.[2][3]
  • 1611 – Cotgrave records it as the name of a card suit.[2]
  • 1617 – It is used for a measure of length.[2][3]
  • 1680 – Richelet gives the card suit as masculine.[2]
  • 1926 – Montherlant uses it for the picador's lance.[2][3]

Meanings

Noun (feminine)

  1. A pike, a weapon with a long shaft and a flat, pointed iron head.[8][2]
  2. (bullfighting) The lance of the picador.[8][2]
  3. (mountaineering) The spike at the lower end of an ice axe.[7]

Noun (masculine)

  1. (card games) Spades, one of the two black suits: l'as de pique.[8][2]
  2. (card games) A card of that suit.[8][2]

Word family

  • piquier

pique2 cutting remark

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 1500 Philippe de Commynes
Ultimate origin
Vulgar Latin *pikkō
Etymology tree of pique2
inherited borrowed derived
French piquer
English pique
Italian picchiare
Romanian pica
French pique
From the same root · pique2
French pique-nique ← piquer
French piquet ← piquer
Romanian picătură ← pica

Pronunciation

Forms

pique f (plural piques)[8]

Etymology

The word for the slight quarrel or cutting remark is a deverbal noun from French piquer (“to prick, sting”).[2][7][3][5] The verb goes back to Vulgar Latin *pikkō, an expressive formation found in all the Romance languages except Romanian.[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1500 in the Mémoires of Philippe de Commynes, meaning a slight falling-out between people.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The weakened sense of a wound to one's self-esteem (late 15th century) has almost gone, and the quarrel sense is now dated.[3][8] The usual modern sense is a biting, sarcastic remark, recorded from 1630 in Agrippa d'Aubigné.[2][3]

In many regions of France (west, centre, east) la pique du jour means daybreak, a use found in writing in 1850 in George Sand.[3][2]

Timeline

  • c. 1500 – Commynes uses pique for a slight quarrel.[2][3]
  • 1630 – Agrippa d'Aubigné uses it for a cutting remark.[2][3]
  • 1850 – George Sand writes la pique du jour “daybreak”.[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A cutting remark, a hurtful allusion: lancer des piques.[8][9]
  2. (dated) A slight quarrel arising from wounded amour-propre.[8][9]
  3. (regional) La pique du jour: daybreak.[7][2]

Usage notes

The Grand Robert has a third pique (3 pique), an old or Picard word for a short-handled scythe, borrowed from Middle Dutch piche (1596 as pic).[7] The TLFi also lists pique “vine shoot bent into an arc” (1812), another derivative of piquer.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c 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 u v w x y z 27 28 29 Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 16, 623a
  5. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)

Related etymologies

  • placard · also from Middle Dutch
  • bloc · also from Middle Dutch
  • vase · also from Middle Dutch
  • cabaret · also from Middle Dutch
  • pompe · also from Middle Dutch
  • ruban · also from Middle Dutch
  • étape · also from Middle Dutch
  • crabe · also from Middle Dutch
Cite this entry

“Pique.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/pique. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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