Capsicum

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈkæpsɪkəm/

Definitions

1. A plant of the nightshade family that produces hollow, often brightly colored fruits used as vegetables in cooking, or the pungent spice derived from certain varieties of these fruits
2. A member of the Solanaceae family notable for producing brightly colored, edible fruits often characterized by their pungency and widely used in culinary applications
3. A flowering plant belonging to the Solanaceae family that yields vibrant, flavorful fruits commonly utilized in culinary dishes or as a spice derived from specific fruit types

Etymology: The pepper's name describes its shape. The Greek adjective "kapsikos" meant "like a box", and it comes from Latin "capsa", a box or case. The plant's fruit is a hollow, box-like pod, and botanists in the early modern period took that resemblance as the basis for a scientific name. The Latin-derived form was coined in New Latin, the learned scholarly language of the Renaissance and after, and English borrowed it from there. The plant has been known by this name in English since its introduction to European botany, long before the everyday words for its fruit spread widely. Its ordinary names, such as "pepper" and "chilli", were applied to it for quite different reasons, since it was never a true pepper of the kind that came from the Old World spice trade.

Synonyms: pepper, bell pepper, chili