poignant

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   keenly distressing to the mind or feelings

   Poignant anxiety.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Poignant came into late Middle English from an Old French word meaning “pricking,” derived from Latin pungere “to prick.” In the Middle Ages it could describe a sharply pointed weapon and was also applied to sharp tastes and smells.

From Middle English poynaunt, poynant, borrowed from Anglo-Norman puignant, poynaunt etc., present participle of poindre (“to prick”), from Latin pungō (“prick”). Doublet of pungent.

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