pepperoni

Etymology

It is apparently borrowed from Italian peperoni, the plural of peperone, a pepper or chilli,^[2][3][4][5] formed from pepe (“pepper”), from Latin piper (“pepper”), and the augmentative suffix -one.^[2][6][3] The OED notes that the Italian word is apparently not recorded for the sausage,^[2] and the American Heritage Dictionary calls pepperoni originally an Italian-American word, since the style of sausage is unknown in Italy, perhaps an alteration of the Italian plural influenced by English pepper.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A hard sausage of beef and pork, highly seasoned with pepper: 1888, in The Times.^[2][3] Etymonline dates it to 1904, Dictionary.com to 1920–25, and Barnhart to before 1934, calling it an Americanism.^[8][5][4]

Semantic evolution

The OED's first quotation already points to an Italian origin, although the sense is not recorded in Italian.^[2] In Italian peperone named various peppers from the early 18th century and the chilli pepper by the late 19th century.^[2] In English the word was soon used for slices of the sausage as a topping, especially on pizza,^[9][7] and in extended, often humorous, uses.^[2]

Timeline

• 1888 – a hard, highly seasoned sausage of beef and pork.^[2][3] Etymonline dates it to 1904.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A hard, highly seasoned sausage of beef and pork, spiced with pepper: a slice of pepperoni.^[3][9][2]
2. A slice of this sausage, used especially as a topping on pizza.^[7][9]

Related words

• pepper

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins