capsaicin

noun

cap·​sa·​i·​cin kap-ˈsā-ə-sən 

: a colorless irritant phenolic amide C₁₈H₂₇NO₃ found in various capsicums that gives hot peppers their hotness and that is used in topical creams for its analgesic properties

Examples of capsaicin in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The fats in nut butters help dissolve capsaicin, mellowing out the heat while adding a subtle richness to the chili. —Katie Rosenhouse, Southern Living, 17 Oct. 2024

Birds are immune to the damaging effects of capsaicin, found in hot peppers. —Allison Futterman, Discover Magazine, 1 Oct. 2024

Many chefs and capsaicin connoisseurs consider red chile from the tiny village of Chimayo, nestled in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains between Santa Fe and Taos, to be the most delicious pepper in the American Southwest. —John Burnett, NPR, 21 Sep. 2024

One version was neutral, and another contained capsaicin to produce a mild burning pseudo-side effect. —Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 12 Sep. 2024

Word History

Etymology

alteration of earlier capsicine, capsicin "material extracted from cayenne pepper," borrowed from German Capsicin, from New Latin Capsicum capsicum + German -in -in entry 1

Note: Name introduced by the British physician and chemist John Clough Thresh (1850-1932) in "Capsaicin, the Active Principle of Capsicum Fruits," The Pharmaceutical Journal and Transactions, 3. series, Vol. 7 (July 3, 1876), p. 21. Thresh altered the name more or less arbitrarily, presumably to prevent confusion with the name for the earlier mixture, the impurity of which he demonstrated. German Capsicin appears to have been introduced by the chemist Christian Friedrich Buchhol(t)z in "Chemische Untersuchung der trockenen reifen spanischen Pfeffers," Almanach oder Taschenbuch für Scheidekünstler und Apotheker, vol. 37 (1816), pp. 1-30.

First Known Use

1876, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

capsaicin

noun

cap·​sa·​icin kap-ˈsā-ə-sən 

: a colorless irritant phenolic amide C₁₈H₂₇NO₃ found in various capsicums that gives hot peppers their hotness and that is used in topical creams for its analgesic properties see zostrix