piquer

Meaning

1. to prick; to sting
2. to sting
3. to put down, euthanise (an animal)
4. (colloquial) to nick, pinch, steal
5. to pride oneself on; to like to think that one can do
6. to stitch together
7. to dive, descend rapidly (of birds or planes)
8. to dash (towards something)

Pronounced as (IPA)

/pi.ke/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French picquer, from Old French piquer (“to pierce with the tip of a sword”) (cf. also pikier), from proto-Romance or Vulgar Latin *pīccare (“to sting, strike”) or *pikkāre (compare Occitan, Catalan, Portuguese, and Spanish picar), itself either from an onomatopoeic root *pikk- (cf. also Latin picus, whence French pic), or alternatively, from Frankish *pikkōn, from Proto-Germanic *pikōną, *pukaną (“to pick, peck, prick, knock”), from Proto-Indo-European *bew-, *bū- (“to make a dull sound”).
Cognate with Old English pȳcan, pician (“to pick, pluck”); Old Norse pikka (“to prick, peck”); Middle Dutch and Middle Low German picken (“to pick, peck, pierce”); Middle High German puchen (“to knock, defy, plunder”). More at pick.