different between piquant vs peppery

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

English

Etymology

pepper +? -y

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?p?p??i/

Adjective

peppery (comparative pepperier, superlative pepperiest)

1. Having the taste of pepper.
2. (figuratively) Having a fiery temperament.
   • 1884, Gilbert & Sullivan, Princess Ida:

     For I'm a peppery potentate, / Who's little inclined his claim to bate, / To fit the wit of a bit of a chit, / And that's the long and short of it!

Translations