piquant

The French verb piquer means 'to prick, to sting, to stab.' Its present participle, piquant, describes something that pricks — a thorn, a needle, a sharp sensation. When applied to food in the sixteenth century, it described a flavor that stung the palate, that pricked the tongue awake.

English borrowed piquant in the 1520s, and it arrived with two faces. On the tongue, it meant sharp and spicy. In conversation, it meant stimulating and provocative. A piquant sauce and a piquant remark both did the same thing: they pricked you into attention. The metaphor worked because it was physical.

The French root piquer also gave English 'pique' (to provoke or irritate), 'pike' (the weapon with a sharp point), and 'picket' (a pointed stake). All share the same Proto-Romance ancestor *pikkare, 'to prick.' An entire family of English words traces back to a single sharp point.

Piquant survives as a word for the kind of flavor that does not sit quietly in the mouth. It bites, it tingles, it demands a reaction. In a world of bland and mild, piquant is the taste that refuses to be polite.