pungent adj

1 sharp biting or acrid especially in taste or smell; "tasting the pungent wood sorrel"; "pungent curry"; "a pungent smell of burning sulfur" [ant: bland]

2 capable of wounding; "a barbed compliment"; "a biting aphorism"; "pungent satire" [syn: barbed, biting, nipping, mordacious]

English

Pronunciation

Etymology

From pungens (stem |pungent-), present participle of pungo.

Adjective

1. Having a strong odor/odour that stings the nose, said especially of acidic or spicy substances.

   The lasagne included plenty of pungent garlic.

Pungency is a sharp and biting sensory impression. Regarding chili peppers, it refers to a scientific equivalent of the Scoville scale of measuring spicyness.

Mechanism

The pungent feeling caused by allyl isothiocyanate, capsaicin, piperine, and allicin is caused by activation of the heat and acidity sensing TRPC ion channel TRPC1 on pain sensing nociceptors.

See also

• International Spicy Food Day
• Pain
• Spice

Attic, acerb, acerbate, acerbic, acescent, acid, acrid, acrimonious, acute, afflictive, agonizing, amaroidal, aphoristic, aromatic, asperous, astringent, atrocious, axiomatic, barbed, biting, bitter, bitter as gall, brilliant, caustic, clever, coarse, consuming, crab, crabbed, cramping, crisp, cruel, cutting, deafening, distressing, droll, dry, epigrammatic, escharotic, exciting, excruciating, facetious, flavorful, formulaic, formulistic, funny, gnawing, gnomic, grave, green, griping, hard, harrowing, harsh, hot, humorous, humorsome, hurtful, hurting, incisive, intense, irritating, jesting, jocose, jocular, joking, joky, joshing, keen, keen-witted, lively, loud, mordant, nimble-witted, nose-piercing, nose-tickling, oppressive, painful, paroxysmal, penetrating, peppery, peppy, pickled, piercing, piquant, pithy, platitudinous, poignant, pointed, proverbial, provocative, quick-witted, racking, racy, rapier-like, reeking, rich, rough, salt, salty, sapid, sarcastic, scathing, scintillating, seasoned, sec, sententious, severe, sharp, shooting, smart, snappy, sour, sour as vinegar, soured, sourish, sparkling, spasmatic, spasmic, spasmodic, spicy, spirited, sprightly, stabbing, stern, stimulating, stinging, strong, strong-scented, strong-smelling, succinct, suffocating, tangy, tart, tartish, tasty, terse, thundering, tormenting, torturous, trenchant, uninteresting, unripe, unsweet, unsweetened, upsetting, vinegarish, vinegary, vitriolic, vivacious, whimsical, witty, zesty