piquer

English

Etymology

From pique +‎ -er.

Noun

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.

French

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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pi.ke/

• Audio:

  (file)

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

Verb

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) to pride oneself on; to like to think that one can do [with de ‘something’]
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

Conjugation

Conjugation of piquer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	piquer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	piquant /pi.kɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		piqué /pi.ke/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	pique /pik/	piques /pik/	pique /pik/	piquons /pi.kɔ̃/	piquez /pi.ke/	piquent /pik/
	imperfect	piquais /pi.kɛ/	piquais /pi.kɛ/	piquait /pi.kɛ/	piquions /pi.kjɔ̃/	piquiez /pi.kje/	piquaient /pi.kɛ/
	past historic2	piquai /pi.ke/	piquas /pi.ka/	piqua /pi.ka/	piquâmes /pi.kam/	piquâtes /pi.kat/	piquèrent /pi.kɛʁ/
	future	piquerai /pi.kʁe/	piqueras /pi.kʁa/	piquera /pi.kʁa/	piquerons /pi.kʁɔ̃/	piquerez /pi.kʁe/	piqueront /pi.kʁɔ̃/
	conditional	piquerais /pi.kʁɛ/	piquerais /pi.kʁɛ/	piquerait /pi.kʁɛ/	piquerions /pi.kə.ʁjɔ̃/	piqueriez /pi.kə.ʁje/	piqueraient /pi.kʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	pique /pik/	piques /pik/	pique /pik/	piquions /pi.kjɔ̃/	piquiez /pi.kje/	piquent /pik/
	imperfect2	piquasse /pi.kas/	piquasses /pi.kas/	piquât /pi.ka/	piquassions /pi.ka.sjɔ̃/	piquassiez /pi.ka.sje/	piquassent /pi.kas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	pique /pik/	—	piquons /pi.kɔ̃/	piquez /pi.ke/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Conjugation of se piquer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	se piquer
	compound	s'être + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	se piquant /sə pi.kɑ̃/
	compound	ayant or étant + past participle
past participle		piqué /pi.ke/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	me pique /mə pik/	te piques /tə pik/	se pique /sə pik/	nous piquons /nu pi.kɔ̃/	vous piquez /vu pi.ke/	se piquent /sə pik/
	imperfect	me piquais /mə pi.kɛ/	te piquais /tə pi.kɛ/	se piquait /sə pi.kɛ/	nous piquions /nu pi.kjɔ̃/	vous piquiez /vu pi.kje/	se piquaient /sə pi.kɛ/
	past historic2	me piquai /mə pi.ke/	te piquas /tə pi.ka/	se piqua /sə pi.ka/	nous piquâmes /nu pi.kam/	vous piquâtes /vu pi.kat/	se piquèrent /sə pi.kɛʁ/
	future	me piquerai /mə pi.kʁe/	te piqueras /tə pi.kʁa/	se piquera /sə pi.kʁa/	nous piquerons /nu pi.kʁɔ̃/	vous piquerez /vu pi.kʁe/	se piqueront /sə pi.kʁɔ̃/
	conditional	me piquerais /mə pi.kʁɛ/	te piquerais /tə pi.kʁɛ/	se piquerait /sə pi.kʁɛ/	nous piquerions /nu pi.kə.ʁjɔ̃/	vous piqueriez /vu pi.kə.ʁje/	se piqueraient /sə pi.kʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of s'être + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of s'être + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of s'être + past participle
	future perfect	future of s'être + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of s'être + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	me pique /mə pik/	te piques /tə pik/	se pique /sə pik/	nous piquions /nu pi.kjɔ̃/	vous piquiez /vu pi.kje/	se piquent /sə pik/
	imperfect2	me piquasse /mə pi.kas/	te piquasses /tə pi.kas/	se piquât /sə pi.ka/	nous piquassions /nu pi.ka.sjɔ̃/	vous piquassiez /vu pi.ka.sje/	se piquassent /sə pi.kas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of s'être + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of s'être + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	pique-toi /pik.twa/	—	piquons-nous /pi.kɔ̃.nu/	piquez-vous /pi.ke.vu/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	—	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• ne pas être piqué des hannetons
• ne pas être piqué des vers
• piquer au vif
• piquer du nez
• piquer un fard
• piquer un roupillon
• piquer un somme
• piquer une colère
• piquer une crise
• piquer une tête
• piqûre, piqure
• repiquer
• se piquer le nez

 

Descendants

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

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• piqure, piqûre