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pepper

pep·per

UK/ˈpɛp.ə/ US/ˈpʰɛp.ə/ common slang uk us
verb (2) noun (4)

verb

1.

add pepper to

  • “pepper the soup”
2.

attack and bombard with or as if with missiles

  • “pelt the speaker with questions”
Synonyms

noun

1.
2.

any of various tropical plants of the genus Capsicum bearing peppers

Synonyms
3.

pungent seasoning from the berry of the common pepper plant of East India; use whole or ground

Synonyms
4.

sweet and hot varieties of fruits of plants of the genus Capsicum

Origin

From Middle English peper, piper, from Old English piper, from Proto-West Germanic *pipar, from Latin piper, from an Indo-Aryan source; compare Sanskrit पिप्पलि (pippali, “long pepper”). The name was given to the capsicum fruit because of its unusual spicy taste, not unlike the Old World spice. Cognate with Scots pepar, Saterland Frisian Pieper, West Frisian piper, Dutch peper, German Low German Peper, German Pfeffer, Danish peber, Norwegian Bokmål pepper, Norwegian Nynorsk pepar, Swedish peppar, Icelandic pipar. Doublet of falafel and peepul.

Phrases

  • alligator pepper
  • Ashanti pepper
  • banana pepper
  • bell pepper
  • betel pepper
  • bird pepper
  • black pepper
  • black pepper snake
  • pepper up

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.