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The earliest English citation is in 1748, from Lord Chesterfield (Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield) who associates a "pic-nic" with card-playing, drinking, and conversation; around 1800, Cornelia Knight spelled the word as "pique-nique" in describing her travels in France.
Jul 7, 2019 · Where the word ‘picnic’ comes from is something of a mystery. The French root may derive from the verb piquer (‘to peck’ or ‘to pick’) and the noun nique (‘a small amount’ or ‘nothing whatsoever’); but this is just speculation.
Aug 3, 2020 · The English word shifted meaning by 1520s to "feast, banquet," probably via the notion of a picnic basket; this led to extended... wet pleasant little fires and extinguish them, with no more ruth than the rain feels when it pours on the encampment of the merry picnic...
Jul 22, 2016 · MEANING. a meal eaten outdoors. ORIGIN. This word is from French pique-nique, probably formed with reduplication from the verb piquer, to pick. (Similarly, pêle-mêle, the origin of English pell-mell, was probably formed with reduplication from the verb mêler, to mix.)
Sep 12, 2023 · The English word picnic ultimately comes from the French pique-nique, although it may have come via German. The French word originally referred to a meal where everyone paid for or contributed their share of the food, but later came to mean a meal eaten outdoors. The pique comes from the verb piquer, to stick or sting, to bite like an insect.
Nov 13, 2023 · The word “picnic” has its roots in France, specifically from the 17th-century French word “pique-nique.” This term was used to describe a social gathering where each attendee contributed with a share of the food.
Picnic's first appearance in English — with that spelling — came in 1748, with a description involving social drinking and card-playing, and in 1815, picnic was first used as a verb.
