piquant
French, adjective/pi.kɑ̃/
piquant is spelled P-I-Q-U-A-N-T (7 letters) and appears 1.8 times per million words in written French, the 21,879th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Piquant is a French adjective meaning “spiky, spiny” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is also a present participle of piquer. The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Qui pique”.
What does piquant mean in English?
adjective
- 1
spiky, spiny
- 2
piquant, pungent, spicy-hot (of food)
- 3
cold; ice-cold
froid piquant
- 4
scathing (of humor, a joke, etc.)
- 5
attractive
verb
- 1
present participle of piquer
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
adjective: 1. Qui pique. 2. Qui fait une impression vive sur l’organe du goût ou de l’odorat. 3. Stimulant comme le piment et le gingembre. 4. Qualifie la température, quand elle est très froide.
noun: 1. Ce qui pique, pointe, aiguillon, épine qui pousse à certaines plantes, à certains arbrisseaux. 2. Ce qui pique l'esprit, les sens.
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of piquant
- piquante feminine
- piquants masculine plural
- piquantes feminine plural
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce piquant?
- /pi.kɑ̃/
- \pi.kɑ̃\
- [pi.kɑ̃]
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to piquant
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is piquant in French?
piquant appears 1.8 times per million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).