picnic

See also: PICNIC and pícnic

English

Alternative forms

• pic-a-nic
• picknick (archaic)

Etymology

Borrowed from French pique-nique.

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (Southern England):

  (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; republished New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, 1944, →OCLC:

     "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 […]

6. (only in the phrase "no picnic") Something easy.
   • While we can map out a planet's surface quite easily, mapping out the insides of a black hole is no picnic.

Derived terms

• few sandwiches short of a picnic
• no picnic
• picnic basket
• picnic blanket
• picnic box
• picnic egg
• picnic ham
• picnicker
• picnic pie
• picnic sheet
• picnic shoulder
• picnic site
• picnic table
• steel beach picnic
• teddy bears' picnic

 

Descendants

• → Japanese: ピクニック (pikunikku)
• → Punjabi: ਪਿਕਨਿਕ (piknik)
• → Polish: piknik
• → Swahili: pikniki

Translations

social gathering

• Danish: skovtur c
• German: Picknick (de) n
• Indonesian: piknik (id)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: سەیران (ckb) (seyran)

  Northern Kurdish: seyran (ku)

  Southern Kurdish: سەێران (seÿran)

• Macedonian: излет m (izlet)
• Sundanese: mayor (su)

a meal eaten outdoors

• Arabic: نُزْهَة f (nuzha)
• Armenian: զբոսախնջույք (hy) (zbosaxnǰuykʻ), 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 (da) 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)
• Italian: picnic (it) m
• Japanese: ピクニック (ja) (pikunikku)
• Korean: 소풍(逍風)(消風) (ko) (sopung), 피크닉 (pikeunik)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: سەیران (ckb) (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)
• Swahili: pikniki, mandari
• 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."

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English picnic, from French pique-nique.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

picnic m (invariable)

1. picnic (outdoor meal)

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French pique-nique.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

picnic n (plural picnicuri)

1. picnic

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	picnic	picnicul		picnicuri	picnicurile
genitive-dative	picnic	picnicului		picnicuri	picnicurilor
vocative	picnicule			picnicurilor

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.