pique

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:

• Onomatopoeic; or
• from Frankish *pikkōn, from Proto-Germanic *pikkōną (“to knock; to peck; to pick; to prick”). If so, pique is a doublet of pick, pitch, and peck.

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

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: pēk, IPA^(key): /piːk/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /pik/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Homophones: peak, peek, peke
• Rhymes: -iːk

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

      • 1733 (indicated as 1732), [Alexander] Pope, Of the Use of Riches, an Epistle to the Right Honourable Allen Lord Bathurst, London: […] J. Wright, for Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC, page 18:

        The Dev'l was piqu'd, ſuch ſaintſhip to behold, / And long'd to tempt him like good Job of old: / But Satan novv is vviſer than of yore, / And tempts by making rich, not making poor.

      • 1812, Lord Byron, “Canto II”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. A Romaunt, London: Printed for John Murray, […]; William Blackwood, Edinburgh; and John Cumming, Dublin; by Thomas Davison, […], →OCLC, stanza XXXIII, page 77:

        Brisk Confidence still best with woman copes; / Pique her and soothe in turn, soon Passion crowns thy hopes.

      • 1817 (date written), Jane Austen, chapter 7, in R[aymond] W[ilson] Chambers, editor, Fragment of a Novel Written by Jane Austen, January–March 1817 […] [Sanditon], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, published 1925, →OCLC, page 93:

        His chusing to walk with her, she had learnt to understand. It was done to pique Miss Brereton.

      • 1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “The Test on Miriam”, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC, part II, page 292:

        She treated him indulgently, as if he were a child. He thought he did not mind. But deep below the surface it piqued him.

   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.

• Frequently confused with homophones such as "peek". Today, uncommon outside set phrases such as "piqued my interest".

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.
   • 1592, Tho[mas] Nashe, “The Foure Letters Confuted”, in Strange Newes, of the Intercepting Certaine Letters and a Convoy of Verses, […], London: […] Iohn Danter, […], →OCLC; republished in J[ohn] Payne Collier, editor, Illustrations of Early English Literature (Miscellaneous Tracts; Temp. Eliz. and Jac. I), volume II, London: Privately printed, [1867], →OCLC, page 35:

     Tuſh! tuſh! you take the grave peake uppon you too much: who would think you could ſo eaſily ſhake off your olde friendes?

   • 1667 (revival performance), John Dryden, The Wild Gallant: A Comedy. […], In the Savoy [London]: […] T[homas] Newcomb for H[enry] Herringman, […], published 1669, Act II, page 20:

     Pray, my Lord, take no picque at it: 'tis not given to all men to be confident: […]

   • 1811, [Jane Austen], chapter II, in Sense and Sensibility […], volume II, London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published by T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 30:

     "'Tis because you are an indifferent person," said Lucy, with some pique, and laying a particular stress on those words, "that your judgment must justly have such weight with me.["]

   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXIII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 283:

     "At all events," replied Francesca, "it could not be better bestowed, than as an offering, however unworthy, for his sake who is nearest and dearest to me in the world." / "I thank you for the implied compliment," returned Evelyn, in a tone of pique.

   • 1957 June 27, Clifford Odets, Ernest Lehman, Alexander Mackendrick (uncredited), Sweet Smell of Success:

     You think this is a personal thing with me? Are you telling me I think of this in terms of a personal pique?

   • 1994, Nelson Mandela, chapter 1, in Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, part 1 (A Country Childhood), page 6:

     This defiance was not a fit of pique, but a matter of principle. He [Mandela's father] was asserting his traditional prerogative as a chief and was challenging the authority of the magistrate.

   • 2018 April 10, Daniel Taylor, “Liverpool go through after Mohamed Salah stops Manchester City fightback”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎^[1], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 3 October 2021:

     [Jürgen] Klopp’s team had the better balance between attack and defence and, crucially, they got lucky with the disallowed goal that brought [Pep] Guardiola to the point of spontaneous combustion at half-time. Guardiola’s fit of pique led to his banishment from the dugout and City will wonder what might have happened if they had taken a 2–0 lead into the second half.

3. (countable, obsolete) In pique of honour: a matter, a point.
   • 1687, [John Dryden], “The Third Part”, in The Hind and the Panther. A Poem, in Three Parts, 2nd edition, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC, pages 95–96:

     Add long preſcription of eſtabliſh'd laws, / And picque of honour to maintain a cauſe, / And ſhame of change, and fear of future ill, / And Zeal, the blind conductor of the will; […]

• Uncommon today outside set phrases such as "fit of pique".

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]

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: pēk, IPA^(key): /piːk/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /pik/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Homophones: peak, peek, peke
• Rhymes: -iːk

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.
   • 1705, [John Vanbrugh], The Confederacy. A Comedy. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act III, pages 36–37:

     Flip[panta]. Hark thee, Braſs, the Game's in our hands, if we can but play the Cards. / Br[ass]. Pique and Repique, you Jade you: If the Wives will fall into a good Intelligence.

• piquet
• repique

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).
   • 1667 August 25 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), [John Dryden], Sr Martin Mar-all, or The Feign’d Innocence: A Comedy. […], London: […] H[enry] Herringman, […], published 1668, →OCLC, Act I, page 5:

     My villainous old luck ſtill follovvs me in gaming, I never throvv the Dice out of my hand, but my Gold goes after 'em: if I go to Picquet, though it be but vvith a Novice in't, he vvill picque and repicque, and Capot me tvventy times together: […]

   • 1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter X, in Rob Roy. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, pages 249–250:

     He seemed perfectly to understand the beautiful game at which he played, but preferred, as it were on principle, the risking bold and precarious strokes to the ordinary rules of play, and neglecting the minor and better balanced chances of the game; he hazarded every thing for the chance of piqueing, repiqueing, or capotting his adversary.

• piquet
• repique

 

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

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpiːkeɪ/, /piːk/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpikeɪ/, /pik/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

  (one-syllable pronunciation)
• Homophones: peak, peek, peke (one-syllable pronunciation), piqué (two-syllable RP pronunciation)
• Rhymes: -iːk (one-syllable pronunciation)
• Hyphenation: pi‧que (one-syllable pronunciation)

pique (plural piques)

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

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]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpiːkeɪ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /piˈkeɪ/
• Rhymes: -eɪ (GA pronunciation)
• Hyphenation: pi‧que

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.

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”).

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /paɪk/
• Homophone: pike
• Rhymes: -aɪk

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: […]

•   pique (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
•   Tunga penetrans on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
  •   Tunga penetrans on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
  •   Tunga penetrans on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “pique”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

• pique-devant

• Equip., equip, pequi

Deverbal from piquer.

• IPA^(key): /pik/

• Audio (France):

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

pique f (plural piques)

1. pike, lance

pique m (plural piques)

1. (card games) spade (as a card suit)

   quatre de pique ― four of spades

• → 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)

pique

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

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

• “pique”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

pique

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

pique f (plural piques)

1. Alternative form of picque

• Rhymes: -iki, -ikɨ
• Hyphenation: pi‧que

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

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

Onomatopoeic.

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)

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

pique

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈpike/ [ˈpi.ke]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ike
• Syllabification: pi‧que

Deverbal from picar.

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

pique

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

• “pique”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28