capsicum

noun

cap·​si·​cum ˈkap-si-kəm 

1

a

: any of a genus (Capsicum) of tropical American herbs and shrubs of the nightshade family widely cultivated for their many-seeded usually fleshy-walled berries

called also pepper

b

: pepper sense 3b

2

: an oleoresin derived from the fruit of some capsicums that contains capsaicin and related compounds and is used medicinally especially as a topical pain reliever

Examples of capsicum in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Their dark yolks — some farmers in Italy even feed their chickens marigold and capsicum to achieve a deep yellow, even reddish hue. 2. —Matt Brennan, Los Angeles Times, 11 Oct. 2024

Piperine and capsicum have prominent thermogenic properties that boost heat production, thereby enhancing fat metabolism. —Amber Smith, Discover Magazine, 3 Apr. 2024

Capsimax powder is a mixture of capsicum, caffeine, piperine, and niacin. —Amber Smith, Discover Magazine, 3 Apr. 2024

This compact cocktail kit, neatly packaged in a copper tin, contains a small batch of bold and spicy ginger syrup developed in-house with ginger, lime concentrate and capsicum for the perfect blend of sweet and spice. —Anna Tingley, Variety, 16 Nov. 2023

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from New Latin (Linnaeus), earlier, a name for various species of Piper, borrowed from Middle Greek kapsikón, of uncertain origin

Note: The name capsicum was introduced into Renaissance botany by the French physician and botanist Jean Ruel, who, in De medicamentorum compositione (Paris, 1539; Basel, 1540), translated Books 5 and 6 of De methodo medendi/Theurapeutikḕ méthodos by the Byzantine physician Johannes Actuarius/Ioannes Aktuarios (ca. 1275-ca. 1328). Actuarius included kapsikón in a pharmaceutical recipe among other plants ("… item sitezium indicum, capsicum, piper longum, tenue cinamomum") apparently similar in action to ginger and galanga, but seems to indicate nothing further about it. (The Greek text of these two books has never been published.) Earlier, in his botanical and pharmaceutical encyclopedia De natura stirpium libri tres (Paris: Simon de Collines, 1536), p. 380, Jean Ruel alludes to the capsicon of Actuarius as a synonym for cardamom, so called because "… the seeds are arranged in a row, enclosed in a kind of case, as if they are collected in a capsa" ("… semina in ordinem digesta, quibusdam thecis inuoluentibus, quasi capsis congerantur"). This notion that capsicum has something to do with Latin capsa, "case, receptacle," is repeated by many subsequent authors. The botanist Gaspard Bauhin employs capsicum as a synonym for piper, "pepper" (Phytopinax, seu enumeratio plantarum, Basel, 1596, pp. 155-56), which eventually gives rise to the Linnaean usage; he proffers a completely different etymology, from Greek káptein "to gulp down, swallow up": "Kapsikón [Greek letters] Actuario, fortè quod semen comestum mordeat, à káptō [Greek letters] mordeo" ("Kapsikón in Actuarius, perhaps because the seed once eaten causes a sting, from káptō I bite"). Neither Ruel's nor Bauhin's etymologies make sense derivationally, so the origin—as well as the identity—of Actuarius' kapsikón remain obscure, at least until further examination of the original Greek text.

First Known Use

1588, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Medical Definition

capsicum

noun

cap·​si·​cum ˈkap-si-kəm 

1

capitalized : a genus of tropical herbs and shrubs of the nightshade family (Solanaceae) widely cultivated for their many-seeded usually fleshy-walled berries

2

: any plant of the genus Capsicum

called also pepper

3

: the dried ripe fruit of some capsicums (as C. frutescens) used as a gastric and intestinal stimulant