picnic

• pic-a-nic
• picknick (archaic)

Borrowed from French pique-nique.

• enPR: pĭkʹ-nĭk, IPA^(key): /ˈpɪknɪk/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪknɪk
• Hyphenation: pic‧nic
• Homophone: pyknic

picnic (plural picnics)

1. An informal social gathering, usually in a natural outdoor setting, to which the participants bring their own food and drink.

   We went out for a picnic in the forest.

2. The meal eaten at such a gathering.
3. (figurative) An easy or pleasant task.

   Synonym: piece of cake

   We remind the guests that dealing with this problem is no picnic, and to be patient.

   • 1936 June 30, Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, 1944, →OCLC:

     "Don't put your hand on me," said Uncle Henry irritably. "I'm crawling with lice. War would be a picnic if it wasn't for lice and dysentery. […]

4. (obsolete) An entertainment at which each person contributed some dish to a common table.
5. A cut of pork from the shoulder area (above the front leg) of a pig.
   • 1923, The National Provisioner, page 50:

     Smoked picnics of medium weights - from 6 to 8 pounds - are selling at wholesale at present for about half the price of fancy hams. Standard bacon of medium weights is another smoked product that is selling […]

   • 1940, War Department Technical Manual, page 53:

     Smoked picnics (calas) are pork shoulders with the butt portion removed just beyond the knuckle bone. Shoulder butts are boneless  […]

   • 2001, Good Housekeeping, The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook, Hearst Books, →ISBN, page 218:

     Smoked picnics are sold whole and usually fully cooked. When sold boneless they are called pork shoulder roll.
     COOKING HAMS AND PICNICS
     Roasting : Roast a fully cooked ham or picnic according to […]

6. (only in the phrase "no picnic") Something easy.
   • While we can map out a planet's surface quite easily, mapping out the insides of a black hole is no picnic.

• → Japanese: ピクニック (pikunikku)
• → Punjabi: ਪਿਕਨਿਕ (piknik)
• → Polish: piknik
• → Swahili: pikniki

• packed lunch

picnic (third-person singular simple present picnics, present participle picnicking, simple past and past participle picnicked)

1. To take part in a picnic.
   • 2000, Bill Oddie, Gripping Yarns, page 71:

     And I'll never forget the chillingly instinctive racism. "Sure is pretty countryside. Pity it's spoiled by the niggers picknickin."

Borrowed from English picnic, from French pique-nique.

• Audio:

  (file)

picnic m (invariable)

1. picnic (outdoor meal)

Borrowed from French pique-nique.

• Audio:

  (file)

picnic n (plural picnicuri)

1. picnic

Borrowed from English picnic, from French pique-nique.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpiɡnik/ [ˈpiɣ̞.nik]
• Rhymes: -iɡnik
• Syllabification: pic‧nic

picnic m (plural picnics)

1. Misspelling of pícnic.