"power of sharply affecting the taste or smell; sharpness, tartness," also figurative, 1640s, from pungent + abstract noun suffix -cy. Related: Pungence.
Entries linking to pungency
pungent adj.
1590s, "sharp and painful, poignant, piercing," originally figurative, of pain or grief, from Latin pungentem (nominative pungens), present participle of pungere "to prick, pierce, sting," figuratively, "to vex, grieve, trouble, afflict" (from suffixed form of PIE root *peuk- "to prick"). For sense development, compare piquant; sharp (adj.).
Meaning "having powerful odor or taste, sharply affecting the sense of smell" is recorded by 1660s; in reference to writing, etc., "sharply affecting the mind, curt and expressive" is by 1850. The literal sense of "sharp, pointed" (c. 1600) is very rare in English and mostly limited to botany.
Middle English and early Modern English also had a now-obsolete verb punge "to prick, pierce; to smart, cause to sting," from Latin pungere. Related: Pungently.
-cy
abstract noun suffix of quality or rank, from Latin -cia, -tia, from Greek -kia, -tia, from abstract ending -ia (see -ia) + stem ending -c- or -t-. The native correspondents are -ship, -hood.