Everyday LifeGreek → English
Paprika
/pəˈpriːkə/noun
A red powder ground from dried sweet or mild capsicum peppers.
The Greek roots
πέπερι
péperi
pepper
Literally: “little pepper”
Follow a root:πέπερι2 words
The story of the word
The route is long. Greek πέπερι, itself borrowed from Sanskrit pippalī for the Indian long pepper, became Latin piper, then Slavic papar, then Hungarian paprika, a diminutive meaning little pepper. Hungarians attached the name to the American capsicum that reached them through Ottoman territory, and English took the Hungarian word in the 1890s along with the cooking that made it famous.
- How it travelled
- Sanskrit → Ancient Greek → Latin → South Slavic → Hungarian → English
- First recorded
- 1890s
Same family
pepperpeppercornpiperine
In a sentence
Take the pan off the heat before the paprika goes in or it turns bitter.