capsaicin

noun

cap·​sa·​i·​cin kap-ˈsā-ə-sən 

: a colorless irritant phenolic amide C₁₈H₂₇NO₃ found in various capsicums that gives hot peppers their hotness and that is used in topical creams for its analgesic properties

Examples of capsaicin in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Most commercial rodent repellents contain capsaicin (hot pepper compound), mint or rosemary oils, or putrid egg solids. —Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 14 Sep. 2024

These products contain lidocaine, menthol, capsaicin, and camphor to cool, heat, or numb the affected back area. —Lana Barhum, Verywell Health, 1 Aug. 2024

The placenta of a pepper, often referred to as the pith, is where the capsaicin glands are found. —Kait Hanson, Southern Living, 18 Aug. 2024

In a news release, the Danish agency said that the former recall was based on marketing information about the content of capsaicin in the instant noodles. —Isabel Yip, NBC News, 17 July 2024

Word History

Etymology

alteration of earlier capsicine, capsicin "material extracted from cayenne pepper," borrowed from German Capsicin, from New Latin Capsicum capsicum + German -in -in entry 1

Note: Name introduced by the British physician and chemist John Clough Thresh (1850-1932) in "Capsaicin, the Active Principle of Capsicum Fruits," The Pharmaceutical Journal and Transactions, 3. series, Vol. 7 (July 3, 1876), p. 21. Thresh altered the name more or less arbitrarily, presumably to prevent confusion with the name for the earlier mixture, the impurity of which he demonstrated. German Capsicin appears to have been introduced by the chemist Christian Friedrich Buchhol(t)z in "Chemische Untersuchung der trockenen reifen spanischen Pfeffers," Almanach oder Taschenbuch für Scheidekünstler und Apotheker, vol. 37 (1816), pp. 1-30.

First Known Use

1876, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

capsaicin

noun

cap·​sa·​icin kap-ˈsā-ə-sən 

: a colorless irritant phenolic amide C₁₈H₂₇NO₃ found in various capsicums that gives hot peppers their hotness and that is used in topical creams for its analgesic properties see zostrix