Cayenne

//kaɪˈɛn// name, noun

name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Ellipsis of cayenne pepper. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountable

    "What's the difference between a cayenne and a jalapeno?"

  2. 2
    a long and often twisted hot red pepper wordnet
  3. 3
    Spice or verve. countable, figuratively, uncountable

    "We speak ill of our neighbours, not from ill-nature, but idleness; satire is only the cayenne of conversation:..."

  4. 4
    ground pods and seeds of pungent red peppers of the genus Capsicum wordnet
  5. 5
    A strong red-orange colour, like the cayenne pepper. countable, uncountable
Show 1 more definition
  1. 6
    plant bearing very hot and finely tapering long peppers; usually red wordnet
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    The capital city of French Guiana department.

Example

More examples

"Combine potato flesh with butter and green onion; stir until butter is melted evenly into potato. Add salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and cheese; stir until cheese is melted. Pour cream and egg yolk into potato mixture; mix to combine. Season with salt to taste."

Etymology

From French Cayenne, a form of Guyana. But said by the French to be from French cayenne (“naval barracks, shore kitchen”).

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.