piquant

adj

1. (archaic)Causing hurt feelings; scathing, severe.
2. Stimulating to the senses; engaging; charming.

   “Their husbands […] leave home to seek for more agreeable, may I be allowed to use a significant French word, piquant society […]”

   “He looked after her as she retreated, with a fondness which was rendered more piquant, as it were, by the mixture of a certain scorn which accompanied it.”

3. Favorably stimulating to the palate; pleasantly spicy; tangy.

   “Pork Chops with Apple and Port These chops are baked in a piquant sauce containing fruit, honey, cinnamon, lemon and port, all of which reduces to a spicy syrup.”

   “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 […]”

   “French charcuterie relies on cloves in the quatre épices, or four-spice powder, for seasoning fine sausages and piquant marinades.”

4. Producing a burning sensation due to the presence of chilies or similar spices; spicy, hot.