Smell and taste

The thirty-second entry is le goût piquant, and English owns the adjective without owning the meaning. « Piquant » was borrowed from French a long time ago and then narrowed into a compliment. In English a piquant sauce has an agreeable sharpness to it, a lift, a small edge that wakes the tongue up, and « piquancy » is something a cook is praised for; the word is never used of chilli heat at all. French left the adjective where it started, on whatever pricks, so un goût piquant is exactly the burn of pepper or of chilli, and a menu announcing un plat piquant is not promising anybody subtlety. The verb underneath explains both halves. Piquer is to prick, and it is an everyday word: a needle, a wasp, a nettle, an old cheese catching at the back of the throat. English took that verb as well and kept only its figurative end — « to pique somebody’s curiosity », « to be piqued ». Read « piquant » into this entry and you order a dish for its charm, when what arrives is a dish that burns.