peppermint

Etymology

It is formed from English pepper + mint,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} the plant being named for its hot, pungent taste, which Johnson described as "mint eminently hot".^[8] Etymonline compares Dutch pepermunt and German Pfeffermünze,^[3] and the OED the scientific name Mentha piperita, given by Linnaeus in 1753.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The pungent mint plant cultivated for its oil: 1696, in the second edition of John Ray's Synopsis Methodica Stirpium Britannicarum.^[2][5] Etymonline dates it to the 1690s,^[3] and Dictionary.com to 1690–1700.^[7]

Semantic evolution

From the plant the name passed to its products: a cordial or liqueur flavoured with its oil, recorded from about 1770,^[2] the oil itself from 1811,^[2] and sweets flavoured with it from 1820.^[2] Etymonline records peppermint-drop by 1799 and peppermint for a sweet by 1829.^[3] In Australia the name was given from 1790 to eucalypts whose leaves yield an oil that smells like peppermint.^[2][9][5] From 1838 it was also given to other trees of the myrtle family, such as the willow myrtle.^[2][9][5] The colour of peppermint drinks and sweets gave an adjective for a pale green from 1868, in a letter of D. G. Rossetti, and a noun for the colour from 1930.^[2]

Timeline

• 1696 – the mint plant.^[2][5]
• c. 1770 – a cordial or liqueur flavoured with peppermint oil.^[2]
• 1790 – in Australia, a eucalypt with peppermint-scented oil.^[2]
• 1799 – peppermint-drop.^[3]
• 1811 – the essential oil of the plant.^[2]
• 1820 – a sweet flavoured with peppermint oil.^[2] Etymonline dates this sense to 1829.^[3]
• 1838 – other Australian trees of the myrtle family with peppermint-scented leaves.^[2]
• 1868 – adjective, pale green.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A hybrid mint, Mentha × piperita, with small purple or white flowers, grown for the pungent essential oil in its leaves.^{[10][11][5][2]}
2. The oil from this plant, used as a flavouring and in medicine.^[11][5][2]
3. A sweet or lozenge flavoured with this oil: She offered round a bag of peppermints.^[10][11][5]
4. (Australia) Any of several eucalyptus trees whose leaves yield an oil that smells of peppermint; also other trees with peppermint-scented leaves, such as the willow myrtle.^{[5][9][12][2]}

Adjective

1. Of or flavoured with peppermint: peppermint tea.^[12]
2. Of a pale green colour.^[2]

Word family

• pepperminty

Related words

• pepper
• mint
• spearmint

References

1. ^ a b 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ a b c Moore, Bruce, ed. (2004), The Australian Oxford Dictionary, 2nd ed., Melbourne: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ a b The Macquarie Dictionary (2013), 6th ed., Sydney: Macquarie Dictionary Publishers