paprika

Etymology

It is borrowed from Hungarian paprika,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} recorded in Hungarian from 1775, in a book on medicinal herbs.^[2] The Hungarian word is from Serbo-Croatian paprika,^[2][7][8] a diminutive with the suffix -ika of papar (“pepper”),^[2][7][3] which comes, through Proto-Slavic *pьpьrь,^[1] from Latin piper,^[2][4][5] the source of pepper.^[5] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek πέπερι (péperi, “pepper”).^[1][6] Etymonline and Klein allow a Modern Greek source of the Serbo-Croatian word instead of the Latin one.^[3][8] The OED notes that the plant came to Hungary from the Americas, brought by the Turks in the 16th century, and was at first called török-bors (“Turkish pepper”) in Hungarian;^[2] Etymonline says it was known in Hungary by 1569.^[3] Paprika is recorded from 1831, and paprika from 1922.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

As an adjective, describing a dish flavoured or coloured with sweet red pepper: 1830, in The Times.^[2][6] The spice is named in 1839, in John Paget's Hungary and Transylvania;^[2][3] Barnhart dates the word to 1896, and Dictionary.com to 1895–1900.^[9][4][7]

Semantic evolution

The word first meant the spice, made from the dried and ground fruits of sweet peppers.^[2][3] From 1851 it was also used for the fruit itself, and for the plant;^[2] since 1934 it has also named the deep orange-red colour of the spice; the adjective of colour followed in 1978.^[2][10]

Timeline

• 1830 – adjective, of a dish flavoured with sweet pepper.^[2][6]
• 1839 – the spice.^[2][3]
• 1851 – the fruit of the sweet pepper, or the plant.^[2]
• 1934 – the orange-red colour of paprika.^[2]
• 1978 – adjective, orange-red.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mild, powdered spice of a deep orange-red colour, made from the dried pods of sweet peppers.^[11][6][2]
2. The fruit of such a pepper, or the plant that bears it.^[11][2]
3. A deep orange-red colour.^[2][10]

Adjective

1. Flavoured or coloured with paprika: paprika chicken.^[2]
2. Of the orange-red colour of paprika.^[2]

Word family

• Spanish paprika

Related words

• pepper
• paprikash

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins