piquant

/\pi.kɑ̃\/ adj

Letters

7 characters

Frequency Rank

#22,031

in French word usage

Misspellings

10

tracked variants

Confusables

6

similar word pairs

piquant is anFrenchadj. It means: Qui pique. Pronounced \pi.kɑ̃\. Often confused with puant and piquet.

Key facts for piquant
PropertyValue
Headwordpiquant
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdj
IPA\pi.kɑ̃\
Letters7
Frequency rank#22,031
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs6
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of piquant in French word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for piquant is 7 letters long, classified as anadj, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \pi.kɑ̃\. Corpus data places it at rank #22,031 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 10 documented wrong-spelling variants for piquant, with forms such as "ipquant", "piqaunt", and "piqquant". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 6 confusable-pair relationships, "puant", "piquet", "piquent", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is piquant, spelled P-I-Q-U-A-N-T, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui pique.
  2. 2
    Qui fait une impression vive sur l’organe du goût ou de l’odorat.
  3. 3
    Stimulant comme le piment et le gingembre.
  4. 4
    Qualifie la température, quand elle est très froide.
  5. 5
    Qui est offensant, en parlant principalement des discours.
  6. 6
    Qualifie ce qui fait une impression vive et agréable sur l’esprit, sur les sens, et particulièrement des discours, des écrits et des ouvrages d’art qui plaisent par quelque chose de fin et de vif.
  7. 7
    Se dit des personnes qui plaisent par la vivacité et par l’agrément de leur physionomie plus que par la régularité de leurs traits.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ipquant,piqaunt,piqquant,piquannt,piquantt,piquatn,piqunat,piuqant,ppiquant,pqiuant

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for piquant

Misspelling Variants of "piquant"

ipquant7piqaunt7piqquant8piquannt8piquantt8piquatn7piqunat7piuqant7
Misspelling Variants of "piquant"

Frequency rank: #22,031 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "piquant"?
"piquant" is spelled P-I-Q-U-A-N-T. The IPA pronunciation is \pi.kɑ̃\.
What does "piquant" mean?
As an adj, "piquant" means: Qui pique.
What words are commonly confused with "piquant"?
"piquant" is commonly confused with "puant", "piquet", "piquent". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "piquant"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "piquant" is \pi.kɑ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "piquant" come from?
"piquant" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter P in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.