Where does “pique” come from?
pique (English) comes from Spanish piqué, from Spanish picar, from Spanish pico, from Old Spanish bico, from Latin beccus, from Latin -āceus, from Latin -āx, from Latin -ium — Creates adjectives from noun or verb stems.
pique (English): A kind of ribbed or corded fabric
Definitions
- A kind of ribbed or corded fabric
Ancestry of “pique”, step by step
pique traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.
via Spanish piqué
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spanish | piqué | spade |
| 2 | Spanish | picar | to itch; to sting; to chop |
| 3 | Spanish | pico | beak; sharp point; pick, pickaxe |
| 4 | Old Spanish | bico | — |
| 5 | Latin | beccus | beak, bill |
| 6 | Latin | -āceus | aceous; resembling, having the nature of, forming, belonging to |
| 7 | Latin | -āx | ish, -y |
| 8 | Latin | -ium | Suffix used to form abstract nouns, sometimes... |
| 9 | Latin | -ius | forming adjectives from nouns; nominative neuter... |
| 10 | Proto-Italic | -jōs | Forms comparative adjectives |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | -yós | Creates adjectives from noun or verb stems |
via French piqué
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | piqué | past participle of piquer; dive; two fabrics... |
| 2 | French | piquer | to prick; to sting; to nick, pinch, steal |
| 3 | Middle French | picquer | to sting |
| 4 | Old French | piquer | to pierce with the tip of a sword |
| 5 | Vulgar Latin | piccare | to puncture; to sting, strike; to pierce |
| 6 | Frankish | pikkōn | to peck, strike |
| 7 | Proto-Germanic | pikōną | — |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | bew- | "low-pitch humming noise" |