• enPR: pēk, IPA: /piːk/

pique

1. A feeling of enmity; ill-feeling, animosity; a transient feeling of wounded pride.

   • Men take up piques and displeasures.

   • Wars had arisen […] upon a personal pique.

2. A feeling of irritation or resentment, awakened by a social slight or injury; offence, especially taken in an emotional sense with little thought or consideration.
   • 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, Abacus 2010, p. 7:

     This defiance was not a fit of pique, but a matter of principle.

   • 1957, Clifford Odets and Ernest Lehman, Sweet Smell of Success

     You think this is a personal thing with me? Are you telling me I think of this in terms of a personal pique?

3. (obsolete) Keenly felt desire; a longing.
   • 1684, Samuel Butler, Hudibras

     Though it have the pique, and long, / 'Tis still for something in the wrong.

• German: kränken, reizen, verletzen
• Italian: picca, ripicca, puntigliosità
• Russian: раздраже́ние
• Spanish: resentimiento, pique

pique (piques, present participle piquing; past and past participle piqued)

1. (transitive) To wound the pride of; to excite to anger.

   Synonyms: sting, nettle, irritate, fret

   • 1913, D. H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, chapter 11

     quote en

   • 1812, Lord Byron, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. A Romaunt, London: Printed for John Murray, […]; William Blackwood, Edinburgh; and John Cumming, Dublin; by Thomas Davison, […], OCLC 22697011 ↗, canto II(please specify the stanza number):

     quote en

2. (reflexive) To take pride in; to pride oneself on.
   • 1693, [John Locke], “§168”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], OCLC 1161614482 ↗:

     quote en

3. (transitive) To excite (someone) to action by causing resentment or jealousy; to stimulate (a feeling, emotion); to offend by slighting.

   Synonyms: excite, stimulate

   I believe this will pique your interest.

• German: pikieren
• Russian: уязвля́ть
• Spanish: encender, picar

• Spanish: picarse

• Spanish: picar, encorajinar, azuzar

pique (plural piques)

1. (card games) In piquet, the right of the elder hand to count thirty in hand, or to play before the adversary counts one.

pique (piques, present participle piquing; past and past participle piqued)

1. (card games, transitive) To score a pique against.

pique (plural piques)

1. A chigger or jigger, Tunga penetrans.

• IPA: /ˈpiːkeɪ/

pique

1. A durable ribbed fabric made from cotton, rayon, or silk.