Pique (pronounced “peek”) means to spark someone's curiosity or interest. When something piques your attention, it catches your mind like a hook and makes you want to learn more. A mysterious box on the teacher's desk might pique students' curiosity about what's inside. An unusual headline can pique your interest in reading the full article.

That's exactly what happens when your curiosity is piqued: something gives your mind a little prod that makes you suddenly alert and interested.

Be careful not to confuse pique with peek (to look quickly) or peak (the top of something). You peek around a corner, climb to a mountain's peak, but a good mystery novel piques your interest.

The word also appears in the phrase fit of pique, which means a sudden feeling of hurt pride or irritation. If someone leaves a game in a fit of pique after losing, they're letting wounded feelings control their actions. But the “spark curiosity” meaning is what you'll encounter most often.

As a noun, pique can also mean that same feeling of hurt pride or irritation.