pi ‧ quant /ˈpiːkənt/ BrE AmE adjective
[ Date: 1500-1600 ; Language: French ; Origin: present participle of piquer ; ⇨ ↑ pique 2 ]
1 . having a pleasantly spicy taste:
a piquant wild mushroom sauce
2 . interesting and exciting
—piquantly adverb
—piquancy noun [uncountable] :
The production retains its original piquancy.
• • •
THESAURUS
■ describing the taste of something
▪ delicious having a very good taste:
This cake is delicious!
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a delicious meal
▪ disgusting/revolting having a very bad taste:
The medicine tasted disgusting.
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They had to eat revolting things, like fish eyes.
▪ sweet tasting full of sugar:
The oranges were very sweet.
▪ tasty especially spoken tasting good and with plenty of flavour:
She cooked us a simple but tasty meal.
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That was really tasty!
▪ sour/tart having a taste that stings your tongue slightly, like lemon does – used especially when this is rather unpleasant:
The apples were a little sour.
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The wine has rather a tart taste, which not everyone will like.
▪ tangy having a taste that stings your tongue slightly, like lemon does, in a way that seems good:
The dressing was nice and tangy.
▪ bitter having a strong taste which is not sweet and is sometimes rather unpleasant – used for example about black coffee, or chocolate without sugar:
bitter chocolate
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The medicine had rather a bitter taste.
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Hops give beer its distinctive bitter taste.
▪ salty containing a lot of salt:
Danish salami has a salty flavour.
▪ hot/spicy having a burning taste because it contains strong spices:
I love hot curries.
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a spicy tomato sauce
▪ piquant /ˈpiːkənt/ formal a little spicy – used especially by people who write about food. This word can sound rather ↑ pretentious in everyday conversation:
cooked vegetables in a piquant sauce
▪ mild not having a strong or hot taste – usually used about foods that can sometimes be spicy:
a mild curry
▪ bland not having an interesting taste:
I found the sauce rather bland.