The story
- Latin · derived frompungō“prick”
- Anglo-Norman · derived frompuignant
- Middle English · inherited frompoynaunt
- English todaypoignant
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.
Words from the same roots
Latinpungō all →
punge
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.