piercing

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
pierce/pɪəs/

▶verb

• 1 make a hole in or through with a sharp pointed object.

• 2 force or cut a way through: a shrill voice pierced the air.

• 3 (as adj. piercing) very sharp, cold, or high-pitched.

  ■ very astute or intelligent.

– derivatives
piercer noun,
piercingly adverb.

– origin ME: from OFr. percer, based on L. pertus-, pertundere ‘bore through’.