Building a Better Vocabulary

Lecture 29: Nasty Words and Nice Words

z Not surprisingly, mordant comes from a Middle French word

that meant, literally, “biting.” The Middle French word, in turn,

originally came from the Latin mordeo, meaning “to bite, bite into;

nip; sting.” Mordant is also related to the English word morsel,

meaning “a small bite of something.”

ż Remorse, “a deep regret for a past wrongdoing,” is another

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mean “back,” and the root mor means “to bite”; thus, a feeling

of remorse is literally a feeling that something you did in the

past has come “back to bite” you.

ż Don’t confuse the Latin root commonly spelled mord or mor

and meaning “to bite” with the Latin root mort, which means

“death.” The words mordant, morsel, and remorse are all

connected, but they have no etymological relationship with

such mort words as mortuary, immortal, and mortality.

Piquant (adjective)

1. $JUHHDEO\ SXQJHQW RU VKDUS LQ WDVWH RU ÀDYRU SOHDVDQWO\ ELWLQJ RU
   tart; spicy.


2. Agreeably stimulating and engagingly provocative.


3. Interesting, charming, attractive.

z PiquantFDQUHODWHWRÀDYRURUWDVWHDVLQWKHVRXUWDVWHRIDOHPRQ

or to something that is agreeably stimulating and engagingly

provocative, as in “The editorial’s piquant commentary sparked a

lively debate among the coffee house regulars.” Piquant can also

mean “interesting, charming, or attractive,” as in “her piquant wit.”

Antonyms for piquant include bland, tasteless, and insipid.

z Piquant comes from the French word piquer, meaning “to prick or

sting,” and is related to the English word SLNH, a long, spear-like

weapon. To remember the biting, stinging aspect of piquant, you

might connect it to SLNH in your mind. You might also think of a