poignance

poignance

English

Etymology

Etymology tree
English poignant
Latin -ius
Latin -iader.
Old French -ancebor.
Middle English -aunce
English -ance
English poignance

    From poignant + -ance.

    Pronunciation

    • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈpɔɪnjəns/

    Noun

    poignance (countable and uncountable, plural poignances)

    1. Poignancy; the quality or state of being poignant. [from 17th c.]
      • 1983, Lawrence Durrell, Sebastian (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 2004, page 1016:
        The objects themselves might have come from some Stone Age grave so remote did they seem: yet they had poignance.
      • 1988 August 19, Cecil Adams, “The Straight Dope”, in Chicago Reader‎[1]:
        Too bad Locke's idea didn't catch on; the thought of measuring things in philosophical feet has an unquestionable poignance.
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