Piquant is from French piquant ('stinging, pricking'), present participle of piquer ('to prick, sting'), of imitative or uncertain origin. Important recorded forms include piquer (Middle French). Morphologically, the word is a built form whose named elements carry part of the historical sense. Its deeper history remains uncertain, with proposed links left as possibilities rather than a single settled derivation. The current sense covers pleasantly sharp or appetizing in taste, or stimulating to the mind. The wider family includes derived forms such as piquantly and piquancy and related words such as pique and piqué.