Wiktionary

pique

See also: Pique, piqué, and Piqué

English

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WOTD – 10 March 2022

Etymology 1

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The verb is borrowed from French piquer (“to prick, sting; to anger, annoy; (reflexive) to get angry; to provoke, stimulate; (reflexive) to boast about”), from Middle French piquer, picquer (“to prick, sting; to anger, annoy; (reflexive) to get angry”),[1] from Old French piquer (“to pierce with the tip of a sword”), from proto-Romance or Vulgar Latin *pīccare (“to sting; to strike”) or *pikkāre, and then either:

The noun is borrowed from Middle French pique (“a quarrel; resentment”) (modern French pique), from piquer, picquer (verb); see above.[2]

Pronunciation

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Verb

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pique (third-person singular simple present piques, present participle piquing, simple past and past participle piqued)

  1. (transitive)
    1. To wound the pride of (someone); to excite to anger; to irritate, to offend.
      Synonyms: fret, nettle, sting; see also Thesaurus:annoy
    2. To excite (someone) to action, especially by causing jealousy, resentment, etc.; also, to stimulate (an emotion or feeling, especially curiosity or interest).
      Synonyms: excite, stimulate
      I believe this will pique your interest.
      • 2020 January 2, Richard Clinnick, “After Some Alarms, Sleeper Awakens”, in Rail, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 47:
        I have been hugely involved in the operational side until this point, but now I can speak to operators and other businesses such as American and European companies, because we seem to have piqued interest.
    3. (reflexive) To pride (oneself) on something.
      • 1693, [John Locke], “§105”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], →OCLC, page 123:
        [G]ood Nature may be ſetled in them [children] into a Habit, and they may take pleaſure and pique themſelves in being kind, liberal, and civil to others.
      • 1850, [Jane] Loudon, “The Racoon. (Procyon, or Ursus lotor.)”, in The Entertaining Naturalist: […], new edition, London: Henry G[eorge] Bohn, […], →OCLC, page 43:
        The American hunters pique themselves on their skill in shooting Racoons; which, from the extraordinary vigilance and cunning of the animals, is by no means an easy task.
      • 1871, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter V, in Middlemarch […], volume I, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book I, page 70:
        She piqued herself on writing a hand in which each letter was distinguishable without any large range of conjecture, and she meant to make much use of this accomplishment, to save Mr. Casaubon’s eyes.
    4. (reflexive, obsolete) To excite or stimulate (oneself).
  2. (intransitive)
    1. To take pride in.
    2. To excite to action, especially by causing jealousy, resentment, etc.; also, to stimulate an emotion or feeling, especially curiosity or interest.
      • 1718, Mat[thew] Prior, “Protogenes and Apelles”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], and John Barber […], →OCLC, stanza 2, page 292:
        Piqu'd by Protogenes's Fame, / From Co to Rhodes, Apelles came; / To ſee a Rival and a Friend, / Prepar'd to Cenſure, or Commend, […]
    3. (obsolete, rare) To express jealousy, resentment, etc. at someone; to become angry or annoyed.
      • 1668 June 22 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), John Dryden, An Evening’s Love, or The Mock-Astrologer. […], In the Savoy [London]: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1671, →OCLC, Act IV, page 53:
        For I obſerve, that all vvomen of your condition are like the vvomen of the Play-houſe, ſtill Piquing at each other, vvho ſhall go the beſt Dreſt, and in the Richeſt Habits: till you vvork up one another by your high flying, as the Heron and Jerfalcon do.
Usage notes
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  • Frequently confused with homophones such as "peek". Today, uncommon outside set phrases such as "piqued my interest".
Translations
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Noun

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pique (countable and uncountable, plural piques)

  1. (uncountable) Enmity, ill feeling; (countable) a feeling of animosity or a dispute.
    • 1667, attributed to Richard Allestree, “A Survey of the Causes of Disputes; Fourthly, Passion”, in The Causes of the Decay of Christian Piety. […], London: […] R. Norton for T. Garthwait, […], →OCLC, page 373:
      Men take up piques and diſpleaſures at others, and then every opinion of the diſliked perſon muſt partake of his fate, and be engaged in the quarrel: […]
    • 1691, [Anthony Wood], “HENRY MARTEN”, in Athenæ Oxonienses. An Exact History of All the Writers and Bishops who have had Their Education in the Most Ancient and Famous University of Oxford from the Fifteenth Year of King Henry the Seventh, Dom. 1500, to the End of the Year 1690. […], volume II (Completing the Whole Work), London: […] Tho[mas] Bennet […], →OCLC, column 493:
      [H]e ſhew'd himself, out of ſome little pique, the moſt bitter enemy againſt the K[ing, i.e., Charles I of England] in all the Houſe [of Parliament], as well in action as ſpeech; […]
    • 1766, [Oliver Goldsmith], “A Migration. The Fortunate Circumstances of Our Lives are Generally Found at Last to Be of Our Own Procuring. [An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog.]”, in The Vicar of Wakefield: […], volume I, Salisbury, Wiltshire: […] B. Collins, for F[rancis] Newbery, […], →OCLC, pages 175–176:
      This dog and man at firſt were friends; / But when a pique began, / The dog, to gain his private ends, / Went mad and bit the man.
    • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXVI, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 222:
      Not so Madame de Soissons, who at once divined his intentions and watched his progress, internally resolving to render him every ill office pique could suggest, or ridicule execute.
    • 1853, Thomas De Quincey, “On War”, in Narrative and Miscellaneous Papers. […], volume II, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC, pages 199–200:
      [L]ong, costly, and bloody wars had arisen upon a point of ceremony, upon a personal pique, upon a hasty word, upon some explosion of momentary caprice; […]
    • 1869, Louisa M[ay] Alcott, “Consequences”, in Little Women: […], part second, Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, →OCLC, page 93:
      [T]here occurred one of the little skirmishes which it is almost impossible to avoid, when some five-and-twenty women, old and young, with all their private piques and prejudices, try to work together.
  2. (uncountable) Irritation or resentment awakened by a social injury or slight; offence, especially taken in an emotional sense with little consideration or thought; (countable) especially in fit of pique: a transient feeling of wounded pride.
  3. (countable, obsolete) In pique of honour: a matter, a point.
Usage notes
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  • Uncommon today outside set phrases such as "fit of pique".
Translations
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Etymology 2

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The noun is borrowed from French pic, Middle French pic (“pique in the game of piquet; pike (tool)”), picq (“game of piquet”),[3] from Vulgar Latin *pīccus (“sharp point, peak; pike, spike”), possibly from Frankish *pikk, *pīk, from Proto-Germanic *pikjaz, *pīkaz (“sharp point, peak; pickaxe; pike”); further etymology unknown. Doublet of pike.

The verb is either derived from the noun (though the latter is attested in print later), or borrowed from French pic.[4]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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pique (plural piques)

  1. (card games) In piquet, the right of the elder hand to count thirty in hand, or to play before the adversary counts one.
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Translations
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Verb

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pique (third-person singular simple present piques, present participle piquing, simple past and past participle piqued)

  1. (transitive, intransitive, card games, archaic or obsolete) To score a pique against (someone).
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Etymology 3

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A microscopic photograph (left) and drawing of a chigger, chigoe, or jigger (Tunga penetrans), formerly also known as a pique.

Borrowed from Spanish pique, from Central Quechua piki.[5]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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pique (plural piques)

  1. (obsolete) A chigger, chigoe, or jigger (Tunga penetrans), a species of tropical flea.
Translations
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Etymology 4

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A variant of piqué, borrowed from French piqué (“(noun) ribbed fabric; (ballet) step on to the point of the leading foot without bending the knee; (adjective) backstitched; (cooking) larded”), Middle French piqué (“quilted”), a noun use of the past participle of piquer (“to prick, sting; to decorate with stitches; to quilt; to stitch (fabric) together; to lard (meat)”); see further at etymology 1.[6]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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pique (countable and uncountable, plural piques)

  1. (sewing) Alternative form of piqué (“a kind of corded or ribbed fabric made from cotton, rayon, or silk”)
    • 1967, Ann Helen Stroup, An Investigation of the Dress of American Children from 1930 Through 1941 with Emphasis on Factors Influencing Change, page 195:
      Pique and linen also accented several coats and oftentimes were both detachable and formed an overcollar covering a collar made from the coat fabric.

Etymology 5

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A variant of pica, or from its etymon Late Latin pica (“disorder characterized by appetite and craving for non-edible substances”),[7] from Latin pīca (“jay; magpie”) (from the idea that magpies will eat almost anything), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peyk- (“magpie; woodpecker”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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pique (plural piques)

  1. (pathology, obsolete, rare) Synonym of pica (“a disorder characterized by appetite and craving for non-edible substances”)
    • 1677 (indicated as 1678), [Samuel Butler], “[The Third Part of Hudibras]. Canto II.”, in Hudibras. The Third and Last Part. […], London: […] Robert Horne, […], published 1679, →OCLC; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC, page 260:
      The World is nat'rally averse / To all the truth it sees or hears, / But swallows Non-sense and a Lie / With greediness and gluttony; / And though it have the Pique, and long, / 'Tis still for something in the wrong: […]

References

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  1. ^ “pique, v.2”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2021; “pique1, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  2. ^ “pique, n.1”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2021; “pique1, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  3. ^ “pique, n.2”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2022; “pique2, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  4. ^ “pique, v.1”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2022; “pique2, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  5. ^ “† pique, n.4”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2021.
  6. ^ Compare “piqué, n.5 and adj.”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2022; “piqué3, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  7. ^ “† pique, n3”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2020.

Further reading

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See also

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Anagrams

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French

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Etymology

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Deverbal from piquer.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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pique f (plural piques)

  1. pike, lance

Noun

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pique m (plural piques)

  1. (card games) spade (as a card suit)
    quatre de pique ― four of spades

Descendants

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  • → German: Pik n
    → Macedonian: пик m (pik)
    → Serbo-Croatian: m
    Cyrillic script: пи̏к
    Latin script: pȉk
    → Slovene: pík
  • → Polish: pik m
  • → Russian: пи́ка f (píka)
    → Bulgarian: пи́ка f (píka)

Verb

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pique

  1. inflection of piquer:
    1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
    2. second-person singular imperative

See also

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Suits in French · couleurs (layout · text)
       
cœur carreau pique trèfle

Further reading

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Galician

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Verb

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pique

  1. inflection of picar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative

Middle French

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Noun

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pique f (plural piques)

  1. Alternative form of picque

Portuguese

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Borrowed from Middle French picque (“a prick, sting”), from Old French pic (“a sharp point”).

Noun

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pique m (plural piques)

  1. spear
    Synonyms: hasta, lança
  2. (stricly) pike
    Synonyms: chuço, pica
  3. hide-and-seek (game)
    Synonyms: esconde-esconde, pique-esconde, pega-pega, apanhada
  4. tantrum
    Synonyms: birra, teima
  5. tart or acid flavor
    Synonym: pico
Derived terms
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Etymology 2

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Onomatopoeic.

Noun

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pique m (plural piques)

  1. (Brazil, childish) jab; vaccination
    Synonyms: injeção, (Portugal) pica
    • 2016 November 2, “Alimentação infantil: 6 dicas para aguçar a curiosidade do seu filho”, in ABC na Cozinha, Joinville:
      Então você já tentou de tudo: criar carinhas com cabelo de cenoura ralada e olhos de azeitona, contar que o coelhinho come, que se não comer não cresce, que vai ter que levar “pique”… e nada é eficiente o suficiente para acabar com a birra clássica, exigindo que só come se for batata frita ou salgadinho.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Etymology 3

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See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

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pique

  1. inflection of picar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative

Spanish

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Deverbal from picar.

Noun

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pique m (plural piques)

  1. (card games) spade
  2. downward movement
    irse a pique ― sink (of a ship)
    1. jump, leap
  3. hit, fix (of drugs)
  4. rivalry, loggerheads
  5. friction, confrontation
  6. grudge match
  7. sprint
Derived terms
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Etymology 2

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Verb

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pique

  1. inflection of picar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative

Further reading

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