piquer

pique +‎ -er

piquer (plural piquers)

1. One who piques.
   • 1895, Harper's New Monthly Magazine, volume 91, page 644:

     You are what I may call a piquer of curiosity.

   • 1972, North Carolina Folklore Journal (1972-1973), page 85:

     The name above the door is F. Dula. Under the circumstances, an interest piquer.

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 *beu-, *bu- (“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.

• IPA^(key): /pi.ke/

• audio

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• Homophones: piquai, piqué, piquée, piquées, piqués, piquez

piquer

1. (transitive) to prick; to sting

   Synonym: poindre

2. (intransitive) to sting

   Ça pique ! ― That stings!

3. (transitive) to put down, euthanise (an animal)

   faire piquer son chien ― to have one's dog put down

4. (transitive, colloquial) to nick, pinch, steal

   Synonyms: chiper, subtiliser, voler

   piquer quelque chose à quelqu’un ― to pinch something from someone

5. (reflexive, transitive with de) to pride oneself on; to like to think that one can do
6. (textiles, couture) to stitch together
7. (intransitive) to dive, descend rapidly (of birds or planes)
8. (intransitive) to dash (towards something)

   Synonym: se lancer

• → English: pique
• → German: pikieren
• → Italian: piccarsi
• Louisiana Creole: piqué

• “piquer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• piqure, piqûre