pepper

A2 Topic:Food & Drink

US /ˈpɛp.ɚ/ UK /ˈpɛp.ə/ See IPA manual

Freq #4764

Meanings

1

noun
A spice with a hot taste, made from dried berries and used to season food.

She added a little salt and pepper to the soup.
2

noun
A hollow vegetable, green, red, or yellow, that can be sweet or hot.

He chopped a red pepper into the salad.
3

verb
To add pepper to food.

Remember to pepper the soup before serving.
4

verb
To scatter or cover something with many small things.

He liked to pepper his speech with long, unusual words.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Word family

Forms pepperedpepperingpeppers

Derived forms bepepperculpepperoverpepperpeppadewpepper-and-saltpepper-gaspepper-gingerbreadpepper-potpepper-spraypepperadepepperberrypepperbox

Related forms salt

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

chili pepper
a small pepper with a strong hot taste, used to flavor food

Noun + noun

Tongue twisters (1)

See all

Peter Piper
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. Did Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled peppers? If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

Close both lips for each /p/, and keep the end of picked distinct from pick. Start one line at a time before joining the four lines.

Simplified etymology

The Anglo-Saxons adopted pepper before they invaded England, and the word is also found in other West Germanic languages. It came through Latin from Greek peperi, ultimately from Sanskrit pippalī “berry, peppercorn.”

Etymology

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, Swedish peppar, Icelandic pipar. Doublet of falafel and peepul.

peper Middle English piper Old English *pipar Proto-West Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Food & Drink

External links

# pepper

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A2
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** /ˈpɛp.ɚ/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈpɛp.ə/
**Frequency rank:** 4764

## Meanings
1. A spice with a hot taste, made from dried berries and used to season food.
2. A hollow vegetable, green, red, or yellow, that can be sweet or hot.
3. To add pepper to food.
4. To scatter or cover something with many small things.

## Examples
- She added a little salt and pepper to the soup.
- He chopped a red pepper into the salad.
- Remember to pepper the soup before serving.
- He liked to pepper his speech with long, unusual words.

## Derived Forms
- bepepper
- culpepper
- overpepper
- peppadew
- pepper-and-salt
- pepper-gas
- pepper-gingerbread
- pepper-pot
- pepper-spray
- pepperade
- pepperberry
- pepperbox

## Related Forms
- salt

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: peper
- Root: piper
- Root: *pipar

## Etymology
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, Swedish peppar, Icelandic pipar. Doublet of falafel and peepul.

## AI Etymology
Pepper comes 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, Swedish peppar, Icelandic pipar. Doublet of falafel and peepul. In present-day English it covers a spice with a hot taste, made from dried berries and used to season food, a hollow vegetable, green, red, or yellow, that can be sweet or hot, and to add pepper to food. The wider family includes derived forms such as bepepper, culpepper, overpepper, peppadew, pepper-and-salt and related forms such as salt.

## Topics
- Food & Drink

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