pepper
Syllables: pep·per/ˈpɛp.ə/US/ˈpɛp.ɚ/
pepper noun: a plant of the family Piperaceae.
Noun
pepper (countable and uncountable, plural peppers)
- A plant of the family Piperaceae.
- A spice prepared from the fermented, dried, unripe berries of this plant.
- A fruit of the capsicum plant: red, green, yellow or white, hollow and containing seeds, and in a wide range of mild (sweet, nonspicy) to hot (spicy) varieties.
- Synonyms:
- capsicum
- A game used by baseball players to warm up where fielders standing close to a batter rapidly return the batted ball to be hit again
- Some ballparks have signs saying "No pepper games".
- A randomly-generated value that is added to another value (such as a password) prior to hashing. Unlike a salt, a new one is generated for each value and it is held separately from the value.
- A beating; a thrashing.
- He means to snatch the laurels from his brow, / At all his boasted pluck and prowess smile, / And give him pepper in superior style.1906, Henry Downes Miles, Pugilistica, page 61
- [T]he Chicken had been tapped, and bunged, and had received pepper, and had been made groggy, and had come up piping, and had endured a complication of similar strange inconveniences, until he had been gone into and finished.1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC
- A shotgun.
- Chew beef like breakfast (Yum)
Two shanks, get 'round in seconds (Two)
Be feeding my area, peppers2017 January 17, “Kennington Where It Started”, Biz of Harlem Spartans (lyrics), 0:28 - Number plates already hot, and plus we've got like three peppers2023 June 18, “100mph Freestyle x3”, Clavish (lyrics), 3:24
- Chew beef like breakfast (Yum)
Verb
pepper (third-person singular simple present peppers, present participle peppering, simple past and past participle peppered)
- To add pepper to.
- To strike with something made up of small particles.
- To cover with lots of (something made up of small things).
- After the hailstorm, the beach was peppered with holes.
- To add (something) at frequent intervals.
- He liked to pepper long words throughout his conversation.
- To beat or thrash.
- Rom. Courage man, the hurt cannot be much.
Mer. No: 'tis not ſo deepe as a well, nor ſo wide as a Church doore, but 'tis inough, 'twill ſerue : aske for me to morrow, and you ſhall find me a graue man. I am pepper'd I warrant, for this world: a plague a both your houſes.c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- Rom. Courage man, the hurt cannot be much.
- To use a pepper (type of value used prior to hashing).
- To shoot (upon) with the dotty.
- To write accents or disambiguating marks in script.
Proper noun capitalized: Pepper
Pepper (plural Peppers)
- A surname originating as an occupation for a seller of pepper.
pepper meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
pepper in Hindi
- plant
- मिर्च mirc
- spice
- मिर्च mirc
- fruit of the capsicum
- मिर्च mirc
pepper in Tamil
- spice
- மிளகு miḷaku
pepper in Urdu
- plant
- مِرْچ mirc
- spice
- مِرْچ mirc
pepper in Bengali
- spice
- মরিচ moric
More languagesFewer languages
- pepper in Telugu
- మిరియము miriyamu, మిరపకాయ mirapakāya
- pepper in Malayalam
- കുരുമുളക് kurumuḷakŭ
- pepper in Kannada
- ಕರಿಮೆಣಸು karimeṇasu, ಮೆಣಸು meṇasu
- pepper in Sanskrit
- मरीचम् marīcam
- pepper in Sinhala
- කිණු kiṇu, ගම්මිරිස් gammiris
- pepper in Assamese
- জলকীয়া গছ zolokia gos, জলকীয়া zolokia
- pepper in Pashto
- مرچ
- pepper in Tagalog
- paminta
- pepper in Arabic
- فِلْفِل filfil, فُلْفُل fulful
- pepper in Malay
- lada
- pepper in Indonesian
- lada, merica
- pepper in Thai
- พริกไทย prík-tai, พริกหยวก prík-yùuak
- pepper in Vietnamese
- tiêu
- pepper in Myanmar
- ငရုတ်ကောင်း nga.rutkaung:
- Dhivehi
- އަސޭމިރުސް asēmirus
Examples of pepper in a sentence
- Pepper has a stronger flavor when it is ground straight from a mill.
- This kind of chili pepper is way too hot for my taste.
- Habaneros burn more intensely than most peppers. They will burn your mouth.
Synonyms of pepper
Forms of pepper
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | peppers |
| alternative form (archaic) | piper |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | peppers |
| present participle | peppering |
| past participle | peppered |
| past | peppered |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Peppers |
Origin of pepper
From Middle English peper, piper, from Old English piper, from Proto-West Germanic *pipar, from Latin piper, from Ancient Greek πέπερι (péperi), from an Indo-Aryan source; compare Sanskrit पिप्पलि (pippali, “long pepper”), ultimately from Dravidian; compare Tamil திப்பலி (tippali). 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.
Words formed from pepper
- Pepper syndrome
- alligator pepper
- Ashanti pepper
- banana pepper
- bell pepper
- bepepper
- betel pepper
- bird pepper
- black pepper
- black pepper snake
- Brazilian pepper tree
- California pepper tree
- cayenne pepper
- cherry pepper
- chile pepper
- chili pepper
- chilli pepper
- cone pepper
- conical pepper
- conic pepper
- Culpepper
- Espelette pepper
- ghost chili pepper
- ghost pepper
- green pepper
- Guinea pepper
- hot pepper
- jalapeño pepper
- Jamaica pepper
- Java pepper
- lemon pepper
- malagueta pepper
- mignonette pepper
- monk's pepper
- old man's pepper
- overpepper
- peppadew
- pepperade
- pepper and salt
- pepper-and-salt
- pepper ball
- pepperberry
- pepperbox
- pepperbush
- pepper cake
- peppercorn
- pepper disease
- pepper dulse
- pepperer
- pepperette
- pepper gas
- pepper-gas
- pepper gel
- pepper-gingerbread
- peppergrass
- pepper grinder
- peppering
- pepperish
- pepperita
- pepper Jack
Phrases with pepper
- Pepper X
- Dr Pepper
- pepper up
- Dr. Pepper
- pepper nut
- pepper pot
- red pepper
- long pepper
- pepper gels
- pepper mill
- pepper nuts
- pepper pots
52 more phrasesFewer phrases
- pepper tree
- pepper vine
- wall pepper
- pepper balls
- pepper cakes
- Pepper Coast
- pepper gases
- pepper jelly
- pepper mills
- pepper sauce
- pepper spray
- pepper steak
- pepper trees
- peter pepper
- sport pepper
- sweet pepper
- water pepper
- white pepper
- bird's pepper
- Doctor Pepper
- pepper dulses
- pepper sauces
- pepper shaker
- pepper sprays
- pepper squash
- pepper steaks
- pepper weevil
- rattan pepper
- tailed pepper
- yellow pepper
- pepper shakers
- pepper sprayed
- pepper weevils
- serrano pepper
- Sichuan pepper
- Spanish pepper
- tabasco pepper
- pepper roulette
- pepper spraying
- pepper squashes
- salt and pepper
- Szechuan pepper
- Flaming Dr Pepper
- poor man's pepper
- Flaming Dr. Pepper
- black pepper snakes
- Scotch bonnet pepper
- Flaming Doctor Pepper
- salt and pepper chips
- Brazilian pepper trees
- California pepper trees
- Philadelphia pepper pot
Words that rhyme with pepper
Questions about pepper
- What does pepper mean?
- Pepper means a plant of the family Piperaceae.
- What is pepper in Hindi?
- Pepper in Hindi is मिर्च (mirc). See Pepper meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is pepper?
- Pepper can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce pepper?
- Pepper is pronounced /ˈpɛp.ə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of pepper?
- The plural of pepper is peppers.
Words near pepper in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: pepper (page history and authors); Pepper (page history and authors); කිණු (Sinhala) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-pepper.ogg.
Cite this entry: “pepper.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pepper. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.