spiciness

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈspaɪsinəs/ UK /ˈspaɪsinəs/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
the quality of being pungent, hot, or piquant in flavor

The curry's spiciness made his eyes water.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the quality of being... pungency piquancy hotness zest tang heat

Opposites

blandnessmildness insipidity

Word family

Related forms spice spicy spiceless

Etymology

From spicy + -ness; spicy derives from spice, from Old French espice, from Latin species ('kind, sort', later 'wares, spices').

espice Old French species Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# spiciness

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈspaɪsinəs/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈspaɪsinəs/

## Meanings
1. the quality of being pungent, hot, or piquant in flavor

## Examples
- The curry's spiciness made his eyes water.

## Synonyms
- pungency
- piquancy
- hotness
- zest
- tang
- heat

## Antonyms
- blandness
- mildness
- insipidity

## Related Forms
- spice
- spicy
- spiceless

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: espice
- Root: species

## Etymology
From spicy + -ness; spicy derives from spice, from Old French espice, from Latin species ('kind, sort', later 'wares, spices').

## AI Etymology
Spiciness comes from spicy + -ness; spicy derives from spice, from Old French espice, from Latin species ('kind, sort', later 'wares, spices'). The suffix is part of the word's derivational shape, marking the final grammatical or semantic role while the base supplies the central meaning. As a noun, it denotes "the quality of being pungent, hot, or piquant in flavor", keeping the historical idea close to its dictionary sense. Relevant historical forms include Old French espice and Latin species. Related words include spice, spicy, spiceless.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

markdown