Lack the French pique (6)
I believe the answer is:
needle
'pique' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'lack the french' is the wordplay.
'lack' becomes 'need' (I've seen this before).
'the french' becomes 'le'.
'need'+'le'='NEEDLE'
(Other definitions for needle that I've seen before include "Part of gramophone" , "Badger with sewing implement" , "Clock component" , "Sharp pointed implement" , "Implement with eye" .)