provocative

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French provocatif, and its source, Late Latin provocativus, from Latin provocare.

adj

1. Serving or tending to elicit a strong, often negative sentiment in another person; exasperating.
2. Serving or tending to excite, stimulate or arouse sexual interest; sexy.

noun

1. (obsolete) Something that provokes an appetite, especially a sexual appetite; an aphrodisiac.
   She used by way of Provocative, to read the wanton Verses of her Paramour in the day time …. 1723, Charles Walker, Memoirs of the Life of Sally Salisbury
   [A]nd that one great and all-important occasion and provocative of these beliefs was actually the rise of self-consciousness — that is, the coming of the mind to a more or less distinct awareness of itself and of its own operation, and the consequent development and growth of Individualism, and of the Self-centred attitude in human thought and action. 1920, Edward Carpenter, Pagan and Christian Creeds, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., page 165