picnic
pronunciation
How to pronounce picnic in British English:
UK [ˈpɪknɪk]
How to pronounce picnic in American English:
US [ˈpɪknɪk]
-
- Noun:
- a day devoted to an outdoor social gathering
- any undertaking that is easy to do
- any informal meal eaten outside or on an excursion
-
- Verb:
- eat alfresco, in the open air
Word Origin
- picnic
- picnic: [18] Picnic was borrowed from French piquenique, a word which seems to have originated around the end of the 17th century. It is not clear where it came from, but one theory is that it was based on the verb piquer ‘pick, peck’ (source of English pick), with the rhyming nique perhaps added in half reminiscence of the obsolete nique ‘trifle’. Originally the word denoted a sort of party to which everyone brought along some food; the notion of an ‘outdoor meal’ did not emerge until the 19th century.
- picnic (n.)
- 1748 (in Chesterfield's "Letters"), but rare before c. 1800 as an English institution; originally a fashionable pot-luck social affair, not necessarily out of doors; from French piquenique (1690s), perhaps a reduplication of piquer "to pick, peck," from Old French (see pike (n.2)), or the second element may be nique "worthless thing," from a Germanic source. Figurative sense of "something easy" is from 1886. Picnic table recorded from 1926, originally a folding table.
- picnic (v.)
- "go on a picnic," 1842, from picnic (n.). Related: Picnicked; picnicking. The -k- is inserted to preserve the "k" sound of -c- before a suffix beginning in -i-, -y-, or -e- (compare traffic/trafficking, panic/panicky, shellac/shellacked).
Example
- 1. The president had arranged to join a picnic party .
- 2. A company picnic had also faded away over the years .
- 3. They always received the blessings and gifts from parents . Schools will also hold a special celebration such as picnic .
- 4. There is a picnic ground just below the bridge .
- 5. Does that give them rights at our family picnic ?