peppercorn

C1 Topic:Plants & Agriculture

US /ˈpɛpɚkɔɹn/ UK /ˈpɛpəkɔːn/ See IPA manual

Freq #63908

Meanings

1

noun
a dried berry of the pepper plant, used whole or ground as a spice

Crush each peppercorn just before adding it to the sauce.
2

noun
law: a very small or nominal payment used to make an agreement legally valid

The charity leased the building for a peppercorn rent of one pound a year.
3

noun
a tiny or insignificant amount

There was not a peppercorn of evidence against her.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a dried berry of the pepper... pepper berrypepper

2 noun · law: a very small or... nominal paymenttoken rent

3 noun · a tiny or insignificant amount jot whit speck

Opposites

abundance

Word family

Forms peppercorny

Derived forms peppercorny

Related forms pepperpeppercorn rentspice

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

peppercorn rent
a very small rent charged mainly as a token payment

Noun + noun

Etymology

From Middle English pepercorn, inherited from Old English piporcorn, a compound of pepper + corn in the older sense 'small grain or seed.' Its minute size produced figurative and legal senses for a negligible or merely nominal amount.

Topics

Plants & Agriculture

External links

# peppercorn

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈpɛpɚkɔɹn/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈpɛpəkɔːn/
**Frequency rank:** 63908

## Meanings
1. a dried berry of the pepper plant, used whole or ground as a spice
2. law: a very small or nominal payment used to make an agreement legally valid
3. a tiny or insignificant amount

## Examples
- Crush each peppercorn just before adding it to the sauce.
- The charity leased the building for a peppercorn rent of one pound a year.
- There was not a peppercorn of evidence against her.

## Synonyms
- pepper berry
- pepper
- nominal payment
- jot
- whit

## Antonyms
- abundance

## Derived Forms
- peppercorny

## Related Forms
- pepper
- peppercorn rent
- spice

## Etymology
From Middle English pepercorn, inherited from Old English piporcorn, a compound of pepper + corn in the older sense 'small grain or seed.' Its minute size produced figurative and legal senses for a negligible or merely nominal amount.

## Topics
- Plants & Agriculture

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