Spicy

How to spell spicy

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce spicy

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does spicy mean?

1. adjectiveStrongly flavoured with spices or producing a hot, pungent taste.
2. adjectiveLively, exciting, or mildly scandalous.

Spicy in a sentence

• The curry was far too spicy for the children to enjoy.

• The memoir contained a few spicy details about her former colleagues.

• He ordered the spicy noodles and asked for extra chilli.

• The comedian kept the audience laughing with his spicy jokes.

Where does spicy come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word grows from 'spice', which English took from Old French 'espice' in the 1200s, itself descended from the Latin 'species'. In late Latin 'species' had drifted from its classical sense of 'kind' or 'appearance' to mean 'goods' or 'wares', and especially the costly aromatic substances such as pepper and cinnamon traded across long distances. Once 'spice' was settled in English, the adjective 'spicy' was formed in the 1500s by adding the suffix '-y', meaning 'full of' or 'characterised by'. The literal sense of 'flavoured with spices' soon extended to a figurative one: a story or remark that is lively, racy, or a little improper. The same Latin 'species' also survives unchanged in scientific English, a reminder of how far the meaning has travelled.

How the word is built

• spice (from Latin species: goods, spices)
• -y (adjective suffix meaning 'full of')