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Etymology and origin of the French word piquet

piquet1 stake

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1380
Ultimate origins
Latin *pikkoFrench -et
Etymology tree of piquet1
inherited borrowed derived
French piquer
English pique
Italian picchiare
Romanian pica
French piquet
From the same root · piquet1
French pique ← piquer
French pique-nique ← piquer
Romanian picătură ← pica

Pronunciation

Forms

piquet m (plural piquets)[1] First as Middle French pichet (1380).[2][3][4] The Académie wrote picquet in 1718, and piquet from 1740.[2]

Etymology

The word for the stake is formed from French piquer + -et.[2][5][6][7][1] Littré called it a diminutive of pique.[8] Bloch and Wartburg trace the verb to an expressive Romance type Vulgar Latin *pikkare.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In 1380 a document of the Archives nationales has pichet, a pointed stick or stake.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

By 1611 it named each of the stakes driven into the ground at intervals to mark a line, and it gave figurative phrases such as planter le piquet “to settle somewhere” (1625) and droit comme un piquet (1669, Molière).[2][4]

The stake for tethering horses (1718) gave by metonymy a troop of horsemen kept ready to mount at the first order, their horses being au piquet, and in the same year a piquet d'infanterie.[2][4][6] Later came piquet d'incendie (1893) and piquet de grève “strike picket” (1928, Malraux).[2] A military punishment in which the soldier stood on a stake (1716) gave its name to the school punishment of standing in the corner (1842), though the object had gone.[4][2]

Timeline

  • 1380 – Pichet “pointed stick, stake”.[2][4]
  • 1486 – Picquetz in a list of weapons in a Passion play.[9]
  • 1611 – Cotgrave records the surveyor's stake.[2]
  • 1625 – Planter le piquet in a letter of Agrippa d'Aubigné.[2][4]
  • 1669 – Droit comme un piquet in Molière's L'Avare.[2]
  • 1716 – A military punishment.[2]
  • 1718 – The Académie records a body of horsemen kept ready.[2][6]
  • 1842 – The school punishment.[2][10]
  • 1928 – Piquet de grève in Malraux.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A small stake driven into the ground: les piquets d'un enclos.[10][11][2]
  2. Droit, raide comme un piquet: standing stiff and upright.[10][11]
  3. A detachment of soldiers kept ready for a sudden duty: piquet d'incendie.[10][11]
  4. Piquet de grève: a strike picket.[10][2]
  5. (dated) A school punishment in which a pupil stands still facing the wall: mettre un écolier au piquet.[10][11][12]
  6. (skiing) A slalom pole.[2][13]

piquet2 card game

Confidence
Uncertain
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1622 Les Caquets de l'Accouchée
Ultimate origins
Latin *pikkoFrench -et
Etymology tree of piquet2
inherited borrowed derived
French piquer
English pique
Italian picchiare
Romanian pica
French piquet
From the same root · piquet2
French pique ← piquer
French pique-nique ← piquer
Romanian picătură ← pica

Pronunciation

Forms

piquet m (plural piquets)[1] The Académie wrote picquet in 1694 and 1718, and piquet from 1740.[2]

Etymology

The word for the card game is of uncertain origin.[7][14] The TLFi derives it from French piquer + -et, and the Petit Robert and the Grand Robert think it probably comes from the root of the verb;[2][10][7] the DHLF says it seems to be connected with the verb too.[4] Bloch and Wartburg relate it to pic, a scoring term of the game.[6] Littré reports that it was said to be named after its inventor,[8] and Etymonline suggests a diminutive of that word in the sense “spade”, or the scoring term.[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLFi's first record is in Les Caquets de l'Accouchée (1622); the Grand Robert dates the word to 1662, Bloch and Wartburg to the 16th century.[2][7][6] It names a card game played with thirty-two cards.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

A play on piquer in its sexual sense gave jouer au piquet “to have intercourse” as early as 1640 (Oudin), and later partie de piquet.[4] English borrowed the name in the 1640s.[14]

Timeline

  • 1622 – First record, in Les Caquets de l'Accouchée.[2][10]
  • 1640 – Oudin records jouer au piquet in a sexual sense.[4]
  • 1640s – English borrows the name.[14]
  • 1659 – Faire pic, repic et capot in Molière.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Piquet, a card game played with thirty-two cards, in which players try to collect cards of the same suit and certain sequences and combinations.[2][10][11]
  2. A game of piquet: faire un piquet après le dîner.[2]

Usage notes

In the card game, faire pic is a scoring term, and Molière has faire pic, repic et capot (1659).[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 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 Godefroy, Frédéric (1881–1902), Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle, 10 vols., Paris: Vieweg / Bouillon
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 8, 365c
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  7. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  9. ^ Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  11. ^ a b c d e Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  12. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
  13. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  14. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
Cite this entry

“Piquet.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/piquet. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·