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Spicule vs Piquant - What's the difference?

spicule | piquant |

As a noun spicule

is a sharp, needle-like piece.

As an adjective piquant is

engaging; charming.

spicule

English

(wikipedia spicule)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A sharp, needle-like piece
  • (biology) Any of many needle-like crystalline structures that provide skeletal support in marine invertebrates like sponges
  • (astronomy) A jet of matter ejected from the photosphere of the sun
  • A small spike of flowers

    • Anagrams

    *

    piquant

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Engaging; charming.
  • Favorably stimulating to the palate; pleasantly spicy; stimulating.
  • * 2000 , Lynn Bedford Hall, Best of Cooking in South Africa (page 2000)
    • These chops are baked in a piquant sauce containing fruit, honey, cinnamon, lemon and port, all of which reduces to a spicy syrup.
  • * 2005 , Clifford A. Wright, Some like it hot: spicy favorites from the world's hot zones
    • Elsewhere in South America, excepting Bahia in Brazil, one does not encounter piquant cuisine, although one may stumble on a piquant dish now and then...
  • * 2009 , Sara Engra, Katie Luber, Kimberly Toqe, The Spice Kitchen: Everyday Cooking with Organic Spices (page 9)
    • French charcuterie relies on cloves in the quatre épices, or four-spice powder, for seasoning fine sausages and piquant marinades.
  • (archaic) Causing hurt feelings; scathing.