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Webster 1913 Edition
Piquant
Pi′quant
,Adj.
[F., p. pr. of
piquer
to prick or sting. See Pike
.] Stimulating to the taste; giving zest; tart; sharp; pungent;
“As piquant to the tongue as salt.” as, a
. piquant
anecdoteAddison.
“Piquant railleries.” Gov. of Tongue.
Webster 1828 Edition
Piquant
PIQUANT
,Adj.
1.
Pricking; stimulating to the tongue; as rock as piguant to the tongue as salt.2.
Sharp; tart; pungent; severe; as piquant railleries.Definition 2024
piquant
piquant
English
Adjective
piquant (comparative more piquant, superlative most piquant)
- Engaging; charming.
- Favorably stimulating to the palate; pleasantly spicy; stimulating.
- 2000, Lynn Bedford Hall, The Best of Cooking in South Africa, 2nd edition, Cape Town: Struik Publishers, ISBN 978-1-86872-519-9, page 103:
- 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.
- 2005, Clifford A. Wright, Some Like it Hot: Spicy Favorites from the World's Hot Zones, Boston, Mass.: Harvard Common Press, ISBN 978-1-55832-268-4, page 170:
- 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 […]
- 2009, Sara Engram; Katie Luber; Kimberly Toqe, The Spice Kitchen: Everyday Cooking with Organic Spices, Kansas City, Mo.: Andrews McMeel Publishing, ISBN 978-0-7407-7972-5, page 9:
- French charcuterie relies on cloves in the quatre épices, or four-spice powder, for seasoning fine sausages and piquant marinades.
-
- (archaic) Causing hurt feelings; scathing.
Quotations
- For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:piquant.
Translations
favorably stimulating to the palate
causing hurt feelings
French
Etymology
Present participle of piquer.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /pi.kɑ̃/
Adjective
piquant m (feminine singular piquante, masculine plural piquants, feminine plural piquantes)
- Spiky, spiny.
- Of food: piquant, spicy.
- Cold; ice-cold.
- Of humor, a joke, etc.: scathing.
- (usually of a person) attractive.
Verb
piquant
- present participle of piquer