Capsaicin
//kæpˈseɪəsən// noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A chemical compound found in chilli peppers, which is responsible for their piquancy. uncountable, usually
- 2 colorless pungent crystalline compound derived from capsicum; source of the hotness of hot peppers of the genus Capsicum such as chili and cayenne and jalapeno wordnet
Example
More examples"That feeling is caused by the capsaicin molecules in the peppers activating the capsaicin receptors on our tongue—the more capsaicin, the hotter the pepper."
Etymology
Arbitrary alteration of earlier capsicine, capsicin (“material extracted from cayenne pepper”), presumably to prevent confusion, from German Capsicin, from New Latin capsicum + German -in. Name introduced by John Clough Thresh (1850–1932) in “Capsaicin, the Active Principle of Capsicum Fruits”.
Related phrases
More for "capsaicin"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.