# pepper
## English
### Alternative forms

* piper (archaic)

### 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.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈpɛpə/
* (General American) IPA: /ˈpɛpɚ/
* Audio (UK):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɛpə(ɹ)

### Noun

pepper (countable and uncountable, plural peppers)
* A plant of the family Piperaceae.
* (uncountable) A spice prepared from the fermented, dried, unripe berries of this plant.
* (UK, US, Ireland and Canada) 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.
    Synonym: capsicum
    Hyponyms: (mild/nonspicy) bell pepper, capsicum, (hot/spicy) sweet pepper; chili, chili pepper, hot pepper
* (baseball) 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".
* (cryptography) 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.
* (boxing, slang) A beating; a thrashing.
** 1906, Henry Downes Miles, Pugilistica, page 61:He means to snatch the laurels from his brow, / At all his boasted pluck and prowess smile, / And give him pepper in superior style.
** 1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC:[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.
* (MLE, slang) A shotgun.
** 2017 January 17, “Kennington Where It Started”, Biz of Harlem Spartans (lyrics)‎, 0:28:Chew beef like breakfast (Yum) Two shanks, get 'round in seconds (Two) Be feeding my area, peppers
** 2023 June 18, “100mph Freestyle x3”, Clavish (lyrics)‎, 3:24:Number plates already hot, and plus we've got like three peppers

#### Derived terms

* 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
* Espelette pepper
* ghost chili pepper
* ghost pepper
* green pepper
* Guinea pepper
* hot pepper
* Jamaica pepper
* Java pepper
* lemon pepper
* malagueta pepper
* mignonette pepper
* monk's pepper
* old man's pepper
* pepper and salt
* pepper-and-salt
* pepper ball
* pepper cake
* peppercorn
* pepper dulse
* pepper gas
* pepper-gas
* pepper gel
* peppering
* pepper Jack
* pepper jelly
* pepper mill, peppermill
* peppermint
* pepper nut
* pepper-pot
* pepperpot
* pepper pot
* pepper roulette
* pepper sauce
* pepper shaker
* pepper-spray
* pepper spray
* pepper squash
* pepper steak
* pepper tree
* pepper vine
* pepper weevil
* peppery
* peter pepper
* poor man's pepper
* red pepper
* salt-and-pepper
* salt and pepper
* salt and pepper chips
* Scotch bonnet pepper
* serrano pepper
* Sichuan pepper
* Spanish pepper
* sport pepper
* sweet pepper
* Szechuan pepper
* tabasco pepper
* tailed pepper
* topepo
* water pepper
* white pepper
* yellow pepper

#### Descendants

* Tok Pisin: pepa
* → Hawaiian: pepa
* → Marshallese: pepa

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Verb

pepper (third-person singular simple present peppers, present participle peppering, simple past and past participle peppered)
* (transitive) To add pepper to.
* (transitive) To strike with something made up of small particles.
* (transitive) To cover with lots of (something made up of small things).
    After the hailstorm, the beach was peppered with holes.
* (transitive) To add (something) at frequent intervals.
    He liked to pepper long words throughout his conversation.
* (transitive, slang) To beat or thrash.
** 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 Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):I am pepperd for this world, I am sped yfaith, he hath made wormes meate of me
* (cryptography) To use a pepper (type of value used prior to hashing).
* (transitive, MLE, slang) To shoot (upon) with the dotty.
* (transitive, slang) To write accents or disambiguating marks in script.

#### Derived terms

* pepper up

#### Translations
### See also

* salt
* Wikipedia article on pepper
* Wikipedia article on peppers (fruits of the capsicum plant)

## Middle English
### Noun

pepper
* Alternative form of peper

## Norwegian Bokmål
### Etymology

From Old Norse piparr.

### Pronunciation

* This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some!

### Noun

pepper m (definite singular pepperen)
* pepper (spice)

#### Derived terms

* pepperkake
* peppermynte

### See also

* pepar (Nynorsk)

### References

* “pepper” in The Bokmål Dictionary.