Etymograph

English

piquant

Piquant comes from Middle French piquant ‘pricking, stimulating, irritating’.

  1. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600piquant1‘pricking, stimulating, irritating’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1791piquant1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English piquant
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1791, Mary Wollstonecraft, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson: “Their husbands […] leave home to seek for more…”.

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600piquantWiktionary, English piquant‘pricking, stimulating, irritating’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1791piquantWiktionary, English piquant. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1791, Mary Wollstonecraft, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson: “Their husbands […] leave home to seek for more…”

The story

Borrowed from Middle French piquant (‘pricking, stimulating, irritating’), present participle of piquer, possibly from Old French pikier (‘to prick, sting, nettle’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Frankish *pikkōn

picket, pique, picot, 6 more

through Vulgar Latin *pīccare ‘to sting, strike’

picador

Today it means

adj Causing hurt feelings; scathing, severe.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “piquant”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Middle French piquant / piquant

Shirt and support for this word