picnic

Where it comes from

Picnic ordinarily means a meal eaten outdoors, usually as a social outing. Picnic was borrowed from French pique-nique. French dictionaries analyze the compound as a form of piquer, to pick or peck, plus nique, a small thing of little value, although details of the compound's earliest formation remain uncertain. The early social event was defined by shared contribution: each participant supplied food or paid a share, and it could happen indoors. English usage gradually attached the word to an excursion and meal outdoors.

How the meaning developed

The French evidence also predates the racist false etymology sometimes circulated online.