pique

Meaning

Verb

1. To wound the pride of (someone); to excite to anger; to irritate, to offend.
2. To excite (someone) to action, especially by causing jealousy, resentment, etc.; also, to stimulate (an emotion or feeling, especially curiosity or interest).
3. To pride (oneself) on something.
4. (obsolete) To excite or stimulate (oneself).
5. To take pride in.
6. To excite to action, especially by causing jealousy, resentment, etc.; also, to stimulate an emotion or feeling, especially curiosity or interest.
7. (obsolete) To express jealousy, resentment, etc. at someone; to become angry or annoyed.

Noun

1. Enmity, ill feeling; (countable) a feeling of animosity or a dispute.
2. 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.
3. (obsolete) In pique of honour: a matter, a point.

Noun

In piquet, the right of the elder hand to count thirty in hand, or to play before the adversary counts one.

Noun

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

Noun

Alternative form of piqué (“a kind of corded or ribbed fabric made from cotton, rayon, or silk”)

Noun

Synonym of pica (“a disorder characterized by appetite and craving for non-edible substances”)

Synonyms

resentment

nettle

anger

💢

vex

irritation

offend

rile

provoke

irritate

stick

fret

prick

sting

indignation

pick

⛏️

affront

aggravate

chafe

displeasure

exasperate

gall

grudge

irk

madden

pierce

puncture

quilt

rankle

spite

stab

stimulate

stitch

temper

umbrage

offence

filigree

offense

outrage

peeve

excite

ribless corduroy

poke

exacerbate

prickle

prod

enrage

upset

vellicate

quilting

be angry

embroider

displease

ruffle

scandalize

whet

spur

wrath

bug

🐛

chafe at

begrudge

stir

slight irritation

sulks

vexedness

incite

incense

inflame

infuriate

tiff

ill humour

huff

jab

twinge

miff

goad

nip

Pronounced as (IPA)

/piːk/

Etymology

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”), 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.