picante

Portuguese

Etymology

Etymology tree

Portuguese picar

Proto-Indo-European *-onts

Latin -ns

Latin -āns

Old Galician-Portuguese -ante

Portuguese -ante

Portuguese picante

From picar + -ante.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /piˈkɐ̃.t͡ʃi/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /piˈkɐ̃.tɨ/

• Rhymes: (Brazil) -ɐ̃tʃi, (Portugal) -ɐ̃tɨ
• Hyphenation: pi‧can‧te

Adjective

picante m or f (plural picantes)

1. stinging
2. hot, spicy, piquant (of food)

   A comida mexicana é muito picante. ― Mexican food is very spicy.

3. (figurative) bawdy

   Ele contou-nos muitas anedotas picantes. ― He told us a lot of bawdy jokes.

Noun

picante m (plural picantes)

1. hot sauce

   Esta receita precisa de muito picante. ― This recipe requires a lot of hot sauce.

Further reading

• “picante”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “picante”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Spanish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Spanish picar

Proto-Indo-European *-onts

Latin -ns

Latin -antem

Spanish -ante

Spanish picante

From picar + -ante.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /piˈkante/ [piˈkãn̪.t̪e]
• Rhymes: -ante
• Syllabification: pi‧can‧te

Adjective

picante m or f (masculine and feminine plural picantes)

1. (of food) hot and spicy, piquant
2. vulgar, risque

Derived terms

• rábano picante

Noun

picante m (plural picantes)

1. hot sauce or any hot or spicy condiment or ingredient
2. spiciness

Further reading

• “picante”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025