different between exciting vs piquant

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k?sa?t??/

Verb

exciting

1. present participle of excite

Adjective

exciting (comparative more exciting, superlative most exciting)

1. creating or producing excitement

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:exciting

Derived terms

• excitingness
• excitingly

Translations

Noun

exciting (plural excitings)

1. The process of something becoming excited; excitation.
   • 1855, George Herbert, The Complete Works of George Herbert

     But parents and masters should make haste in this, as to a great purchase for their children and servants; which while they defer, both sides suffer; the one, in wanting many excitings of grace, the other, in being worse served and obeyed.

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?pi?k?nt/, /?pi??k??nt/, /pi??k??nt/
• Hyphenation: pi?quant

Adjective

piquant (comparative more piquant, superlative most piquant)

1. (archaic) Causing hurt feelings; scathing, severe. [from 16th c.]
2. Stimulating to the senses; engaging; charming. [from 17th c.]
   • 1792, Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Penguin 2004, p. 86:

     Their husbands […] leave home to seek for more agreeable, may I be allowed to use a significant French word, piquant society […].

3. Favorably stimulating to the palate; pleasantly spicy; tangy. [from 17th c.]

Derived terms

• piquancy

Quotations

• For more quotations using this term, see Citations:piquant.

Translations

French

Etymology

Present participle of piquer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pi.k??/

Adjective

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

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

Verb

piquant

1. present participle of piquer

Further reading

• “piquant” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Middle French

Verb

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

1. present participle of piquer
2. (may be preceded by en, invariable) gerund of piquer

Adjective

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

1. Alternative form of picquant