# pique

Pronunciation: say "PEEK" US /pik/, UK /piːk/

## Verb

1. To arouse or stimulate a feeling such as interest or curiosity; (of such a feeling) to be aroused; also, to rouse a person to action, especially through jealousy or rivalry.
   - Simple: To make someone feel interested or curious about something.
   - _The headline piqued readers' interest enough that they shared the article widely._
   - _Friendly rivalry can pique an athlete to train harder than ever._
4. To offend or irritate someone, especially by wounding their pride; formerly also, to take offense or show resentment.
   - Simple: To hurt someone's pride or annoy them. In the past, also to become annoyed or upset.
   - _The dismissive tone of the review clearly piqued the author._
   - _Petty slights pique him more than he is willing to admit._
5. To pride oneself on something ("he piques himself on his punctuality").
   - Simple: To feel proud of something you do or have.
   - _He piques himself on knowing every regular customer by name._
   - _Good editors pique themselves on catching every error._

## Noun

2. Irritation or resentment caused by a slight or social injury; a brief feeling of wounded pride.
   - Simple: A feeling of being hurt or annoyed because of an insult or a slight.
   - _He resigned in a moment of pique after the meeting went against him._
   - _A flash of pique crossed her face when her idea was dismissed._
3. Another spelling of piqué: cloth, usually cotton, with raised ribs or other textured patterns. — Alternative form of piqué (“a kind of corded or ribbed fabric made from cotton, rayon, or silk”). (pronounced: US say "pee-KAY" /piˈkeɪ/; UK say "PEE-kay" /ˈpiːkeɪ/)
   - Simple: Another spelling of piqué. It means a kind of ribbed cotton cloth.
   - _The tailor recommended pique for its firm, textured weave._
   - _Her tennis shirt was made of breathable cotton pique._

## Verb

6. To rouse or stimulate oneself to action or feeling. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To stir yourself up or get yourself excited.
9. In piquet, to score a pique against an opponent. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: In the card game piquet, to score a pique against another player.

## Noun

7. A matter or point, especially one touching a person's honor. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A point or matter, especially one touching a person's honor.
8. Another name for the chigoe, Tunga penetrans, a tropical flea also known as the chigger or jigger. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A small tropical flea that burrows into the skin, also called a chigger or jigger.
   - _Sailors returning from the West Indies complained of piques in their toes._
   - _A single pique could lodge deep enough to require careful removal._
10. An eating disorder characterized by appetite and craving for non-edible substances; a synonym of pica. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A disorder where a person craves and eats things that are not food, such as clay or chalk.

## Other meanings

- (noun) Enmity or ill feeling; a feeling of animosity or a dispute.
- (noun) A small biting fly; a midge, sand fly, or punkie.
- (noun) In the card game piquet, a bonus of thirty points won by the elder hand for reaching thirty points in declarations and play before the opponent has scored anything.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–2, 4–7** — The verb was borrowed from French piquer, meaning "to prick or sting" and "to anger or annoy." It came down through Middle French and Old French from a Vulgar Latin or proto-Romance form meaning "to sting" or "to strike." That form either imitates a sound or comes from Frankish *pikkōn, itself from the Proto-Germanic verb *pikkōną ("to knock, peck, pick, prick"), which would make pick, pitch and peck its doublets. The noun was taken from Middle French pique ("a quarrel, resentment").
**Meaning 9** — Vulgar Latin *pīccus, a sharp point or peak, a pike or spike, is the source of French and Middle French pic, a word for both a pique in piquet and a pike, and the noun was borrowed from it. *pīccus may have been taken from Frankish *pikk, *pīk, which goes back to Proto-Germanic *pikjaz, *pīkaz, meaning a sharp point, peak or pike, and nothing earlier is known. Pike is a doublet. The verb was either formed from the noun or taken from French pic.
**Meaning 8** — Borrowed from Spanish pique, from Central Quechua piki.
**Meaning 3** — It is a variant of piqué, which English borrowed from French piqué ("ribbed fabric, a ballet step, backstitched, larded"). The French word came from Middle French piqué ("quilted"), the past participle of piquer ("to prick, stitch, quilt, lard") used as a noun. See etymology 1.
**Meaning 10** — Latin pīca ("jay, magpie") goes back ultimately to the Proto-Indo-European root *(s)peyk- ("magpie, woodpecker"). Because magpies were believed to eat almost anything, Late Latin used pica as the name of a disorder involving cravings for things that are not food. This word is either a variant of pica or was taken directly from that Late Latin source.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/pique (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).