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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, a
piquant
anecdote
.
“As piquant to the tongue as salt.”
Addison.
Piquant railleries.”
Gov. of Tongue.

Webster 1828 Edition


Piquant

PIQUANT

,
Adj.
pik'ant.
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)

  1. Engaging; charming.
  2. 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.
  3. (archaic) Causing hurt feelings; scathing.

Quotations

  • For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:piquant.

Translations


French

Etymology

Present participle of piquer.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /pi.kɑ̃/

Adjective

piquant m (feminine singular piquante, masculine plural piquants, feminine plural piquantes)

  1. Spiky, spiny.
  2. Of food: piquant, spicy.
  3. Cold; ice-cold.
  4. Of humor, a joke, etc.: scathing.
  5. (usually of a person) attractive.

Verb

piquant

  1. present participle of piquer

Middle French

Verb

piquant (plural piquans)

  1. present participle of piquer

Adjective

piquant m (feminine singular piquante, masculine plural piquans, feminine plural piquantes)

  1. Alternative form of picquant