poignant means sharp-pointed; keen. It carries an Arena rating of 1980, earned across 50 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, poignant ranks #385 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #435 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #691 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #766 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words.
poignant is pronounced /ˈpɔɪ.njənt/.
Why “poignant” is a great word
Evoking a keen sense of sadness, regret, or emotional sharpness. From Middle English poynaunt, from Anglo-Norman poignant (present participle of poindre, "to prick"), from Latin pungō ("to prick, sting"). Unlike "pungent," which pricks the nostrils with a sharp, physical sensation, or "touching," which merely grazes the heart with gentle sympathy, poignant drives deeper—an emotional blade that cuts clean and lingers. It is the particular silence after a last train departs, the discovery of a child's handwriting in a box of family papers, or the exact angle of winter light through a window where someone used to sit—moments so saturated with what remains and what has gone that they seem almost to have weight, pressing against the consciousness like a held breath that will not release.
Etymology
From Middle English poynaunt, poynant, borrowed from Anglo-Norman puignant, poynaunt etc., present participle of poindre (“to prick”), from Latin pungō (“prick”). Doublet of pungent.
adj
- Sharp-pointed; keen.e.g.“His siluer shield, now idle maisterlesse; / His poynant speare, that many made to bleed [...].” — 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
- Neat; eloquent; applicable; relevant.e.g.“A poignant reply will garner more credence than hours of blown smoke.”
- Evoking strong mental sensation, to the point of distress; emotionally moving.e.g.“Flipping through his high school yearbook evoked many a poignant memory of yesteryear.”
- Piquant, pungent.
- Incisive; penetrating; piercing.e.g.“His comments were poignant and witty.”
- Inducing sharp physical pain.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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