Dictionary

piquant en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈpiːkənt/
• /ˈpiːkwənt/
• /piːˈkɑːnt/
• /ˈpiːˌkɑːnt/
• (US) audio

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French piquant (“pricking, stimulating, irritating”), present participle of piquer, possibly from Old French pikier (“to prick, sting, nettle”). Doublet of picong. Related to pike.

Meanings

1. (archaic) Causing hurt feelings; scathing, severe.
2. Stimulating to the senses; engaging; charming.
   • He looked after her as she retreated, with a fondness which was rendered more piquant, as it were, by the mixture of a certain scorn which accompanied it. 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 55, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:
   • Their husbands […] leave home to seek for more agreeable, may I be allowed to use a significant French word, piquant society […] 1791 (date written), Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1792, →OCLC:
3. Favorably stimulating to the palate; pleasantly spicy; tangy.
   • French charcuterie relies on cloves in the quatre épices, or four-spice powder, for seasoning fine sausages and piquant marinades. 2009, Sara Engram with Katie Luber and Kimberly Toqe, The Spice Kitchen: Everyday Cooking with Organic Spices, Kansas City, Mo.: Andrews McMeel Publishing, →ISBN, page 9:
   • Pork Chops with Apple and Port These chops are baked in a piquant sauce containing fruit, honey, cinnamon, lemon and port, all of which reduces to a spicy syrup. 2000, Lynn Bedford Hall, The Best of Cooking in South Africa, 2nd edition, Cape Town: Struik Publishers, →ISBN, page 103:
   • Elsewhere in South America, excepting Bahia in Brazil, one does not encounter piquant cuisine, although one may stumble on a piquant dish now and then […] 2005, Clifford A. Wright, Some Like it Hot: Spicy Favorites from the World's Hot Zones, Boston, Mass.: Harvard Common Press, →ISBN, page 170:
4. Producing a burning sensation due to the presence of chilies or similar spices; spicy, hot.

Forms

Deriveds

piquancy · piquantly · unpiquant · piquantness

Translations (28)

bn ঝাল (spicy) · it piccante (engaging; charming) · pt interessante (engaging; charming) · cy sbeislyd (spicy) · fi pikantti (spicy) · my စပ် (spicy) · uk піка́нтний (spicy) · ru пикантный (spicy) · et pikantne (spicy) · ja 辛い (spicy) · fr piquant (spicy) · it vespigno (spicy) · af pikant (engaging; charming) · ko 맵다 (spicy) · af pikant (spicy) · de pikant (spicy) · io pik-anta (spicy) · ca picant (spicy) · bg пикантен (spicy) · it piccante (spicy) · ka პიკანტური (spicy) · nl pikant (spicy) · ro picant (spicy) · es picante (spicy) · pl pikantny (spicy) · pt chamativo (engaging; charming) · be піка́нтны (spicy) · hu pikáns (spicy)