pique

Meanings

Plural: piques

Noun

tightly woven fabric with raised cords
a sudden outburst of anger
Enmity, ill feeling; (countable) a feeling of animosity or a dispute.
Irritation or resentment awakened by a social injury or slight; offence, especially taken in an emotional sense with little consideration or thought; (countable) especially in fit of pique: a transient feeling of wounded pride.
In pique of honour: a matter, a point.
In piquet, the right of the elder hand to count thirty in hand, or to play before the adversary counts one.
A chigger, chigoe, or jigger (Tunga penetrans), a species of tropical flea.
midgie, sand fly, punkie, punky (US)
Alternative form of piqué (“a kind of corded or ribbed fabric made from cotton, rayon, or silk”).
Synonym of pica (“a disorder characterized by appetite and craving for non-edible substances”).

Verb

cause to feel resentment or indignation
To wound the pride of (someone); to excite to anger; to irritate, to offend.
To excite (someone) to action, especially by causing jealousy, resentment, etc.; also, to stimulate (an emotion or feeling, especially curiosity or interest).
To pride (oneself) on something.
To excite or stimulate (oneself).
To take pride in.
To excite to action, especially by causing jealousy, resentment, etc.; also, to stimulate an emotion or feeling, especially curiosity or interest.
To express jealousy, resentment, etc. at someone; to become angry or annoyed.
To score a pique against (someone).

Origin / Etymology

The verb is borrowed from French piquer (“to prick, sting; to anger, annoy; (reflexive) to get angry; to provoke, stimulate; (reflexive) to boast about”), from Middle French piquer, picquer (“to prick, sting; to anger, annoy; (reflexive) to get angry”), from Old French piquer (“to pierce with the tip of a sword”), from proto-Romance or Vulgar Latin *pīccare (“to sting; to strike”) or *pikkāre, and then either:
* Onomatopoeic; or
* from Frankish *pikkōn, from Proto-Germanic *pikkōną (“to knock; to peck; to pick; to prick”). If so, pique is a doublet of pick, pitch, and peck.
The noun is borrowed from Middle French pique (“a quarrel; resentment”) (modern French pique), from piquer, picquer (verb); see above.

Synonyms

aggravate, annoy, antagonize, bedevil, boil someone's piss, bother, botherate, bug, burn up, chap someone's hide, cheese off, devil, disgruntle, exasperate, excite, fret, frustrate, get, get on someone's nerves, get on someone's tits, get on someone's wick, get someone's back up, get someone's dander up, get someone's goat, get someone's Irish up, get someone's nanny, get someone's nanny-goat, get under one's goat, get up, give someone the shits, grate, grind one's gears, grotch, hack off, harsh one's mellow, hassle, Idioms:, irk, irritate, irritation, jazz, molest, mommick, nark, nettle, offend, pee off, peeve, persecute, pica, pique, piss off, provoke, put someone's back up, raise someone's hackles, rankle, rile, rile up, roil, rub someone the wrong way, rub up the wrong way, ruffle, ruffle someone's feathers, stimulate, sting, storm, tee off, temper, test someone's patience, tick off, torque off, trouble, try one's patience, vex, wind up

Scrabble Score: 16

pique is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
pique is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
pique is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 18

pique is a valid Words With Friends word