picnic

picnic

See also: PICNIC and pícnic

English

Alternative forms

• picknick (archaic)

Etymology

Borrowed from French pique-nique.

Pronunciation

• enPR: pĭkʹ-nĭk, IPA^(key): /ˈpɪknɪk/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪknɪk
• Hyphenation: pic‧nic
• Homophone: pyknic

Noun

picnic (plural picnics)

1. An informal social gathering, usually in a natural outdoor setting, to which the participants bring their own food and drink.

   We went out for a picnic in the forest.

2. The meal eaten at such a gathering.
3. (figurative) An easy or pleasant task.

   Synonym: piece of cake

   We remind the guests that dealing with this problem is no picnic, and to be patient.

   • 1936 June 30, Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, OCLC 1049770437; republished New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, 1944, OCLC 20350211:

     "Don't put your hand on me," said Uncle Henry irritably. "I'm crawling with lice. War would be a picnic if it wasn't for lice and dysentery. […]

4. (obsolete) An entertainment at which each person contributed some dish to a common table.
5. A cut of pork from the shoulder area (above the front leg) of a pig.
   • 1923, The National Provisioner, page 50:

     Smoked picnics of medium weights - from 6 to 8 pounds - are selling at wholesale at present for about half the price of fancy hams. Standard bacon of medium weights is another smoked product that is selling […]

   • 1940, War Department Technical Manual, page 53:

     Smoked picnics (calas) are pork shoulders with the butt portion removed just beyond the knuckle bone. Shoulder butts are boneless  […]

   • 2001, Good Housekeeping, The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook, Hearst Books, →ISBN, page 218:

     Smoked picnics are sold whole and usually fully cooked. When sold boneless they are called pork shoulder roll.
     COOKING HAMS AND PICNICS
     Roasting : Roast a fully cooked ham or picnic according to […]

Derived terms

• picnic basket
• picnic blanket
• picnic box
• picnic egg
• picnic ham
• picnicker
• picnic pie
• picnic sheet
• picnic shoulder
• picnic site
• picnic table

 

Descendants

• → Spanish: pícnic
• → Japanese: ピクニック (pikunikku)
• → Punjabi: ਪਿਕਨਿਕ (piknik)

Translations

social gathering

Danish: skovtur c Indonesian: piknik (id) Sundanese: mayor (su) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: سەیران‎ (seyran) Northern Kurdish: seyran (ku) Southern Kurdish: سەێران‎ (seÿran)

a meal eaten outdoors

Arabic: نُزْهَة‎ f (nuzha) Armenian: զբոսախնջույք (hy) (zbosaxnǰuykʿ), պիկնիկ (hy) (piknik) Belarusian: пікні́к m (pikník) Bulgarian: пи́кник m (píknik) Catalan: pícnic m Chinese: Mandarin: 野餐 (zh) (yěcān) Czech: piknik (cs) m Danish: picnic c Dutch: picknick (nl) m Esperanto: pikniko Estonian: piknik Finnish: eväsretki (fi) French: pique-nique (fr) m, piquenique (fr) m, picnic (fr) m Galician: merenda (gl) f, pandorgada f, pícnic m Georgian: პიკნიკი (ṗiḳniḳi) German: Picknick (de) n Greek: πικνίκ (el) m (pikník) Hebrew: פִּיקְנִיק‎ m Hindi: पिकनिक f (piknik) Hungarian: piknik (hu) Ido: pikniko (io) Indonesian: piknik (id) Japanese: ピクニック (pikunikku) Korean: 소풍(逍風)(消風) (ko) (sopung), 피크닉 (pikeunik) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: سەیران‎ (seyran) Latvian: pikniks m Lithuanian: piknikas m Macedonian: излет m (izlet), пикник m (piknik) Maltese: piknik m, xalata Ngazidja Comorian: mɗezo Norwegian: Bokmål: piknik m Nynorsk: piknik m Plautdietsch: Piknick m Polish: piknik (pl) m Portuguese: piquenique (pt) f Punjabi: ਪਿਕਨਿਕ f (piknik) Russian: пикни́к (ru) m (pikník) Scottish Gaelic: cuirm-chnuic f Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: ѝзлет m, пѝкник m Roman: ìzlet (sh) m, pìknik (sh) m Slovak: piknik m Slovene: piknik m Spanish: jira (es) f, pícnic (es) f Sundanese: botram, mayor (su) Swedish: picknick (sv) c Tagalog: kura (tl), hira (tl) Thai: ปิกนิก (th) (bpík-ník) Turkish: piknik (tr) Ukrainian: пікні́к (uk) m (pikník) Vietnamese: dã ngoại (vi), píc-níc Welsh: picnic m

an easy or pleasant task

Arabic: مَهَمَّة سَهْلَة‎ f (mahamma sahla) Finnish: huviretki French: jeu d’enfant (fr) m German: Kinderspiel (de) n Hungarian: nem leányálom (negative) Russian: прия́тное времяпрепровожде́ние n (prijátnoje vremjapreprovoždénije)

See also

• packed lunch

Verb

picnic (third-person singular simple present picnics, present participle picnicking, simple past and past participle picnicked)

1. To take part in a picnic.
   • 2000, Bill Oddie, Gripping Yarns, page 71:

     And I'll never forget the chillingly instinctive racism. "Sure is pretty countryside. Pity it's spoiled by the niggers picknickin."

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Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English picnic, from French pique-nique.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

picnic m (invariable)

1. picnic (outdoor meal)

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Romanian

Etymology

From French pique-nique.

Noun

picnic n (plural picnicuri)

1. picnic

Declension

Declension of picnic

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) picnic	picnicul	(niște) picnicuri	picnicurile
genitive/dative	(unui) picnic	picnicului	(unor) picnicuri	picnicurilor
vocative	picnicule		picnicurilor

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Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from English picnic, from French pique-nique.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpiɡnik/ [ˈpiɣ̞.nik]
• Rhymes: -iɡnik
• Syllabification: pic‧nic

Noun

picnic m (plural picnics)

1. Misspelling of pícnic.