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DictionarycayenneHot pepper
noun

cayenne

ky-EN/kaɪˈen/

A hot red pepper used as a spice.

Red cayenne peppers lie beside a bowl of the ground spice.

Two slender, curved red cayenne peppers with green stems beside a small plain bowl of finely ground red cayenne spice, showing both the pepper and its powdered form.
Etymology
cayenneTupicapsicum

Tupi kyynha named capsicum, connecting cayenne directly with the pepper plant and its pungent spice. Its association with the town of Cayenne was a mistake, not its origin.

In context

Food Network174:44
1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper. That's going to make it really hot.
Our Favorite Ina Garten Recipe Videos | Barefoot Contessa | Food Network

More examples

  • Too much cayenne makes the sauce intensely hot.
  • The spice jar contains ground cayenne.
  • Fresh cayenne peppers ripen on the sunny windowsill.

Similar words

paprika
A pepper spice often milder and used for color.
chili powder
Can be a seasoning blend rather than ground cayenne alone.