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  • cayenne
    cayenne
    noun
    a hot, biting condiment composed of the ground pods and seeds of the pepper Capsicum annuum longum.
  • Cayenne
    Cayenne
    noun
    a seaport in and the capital of French Guiana.

cayenne

1 American  
[kahy-en, key-, kahy-en] / kaɪˈɛn, keɪ-, ˈkaɪˌɛn /

noun

  1. a hot, biting condiment composed of the ground pods and seeds of the pepper Capsicum annuum longum.

  2. the long, wrinkled, twisted fruit of this plant.

  3. the plant itself.


Cayenne 2 American  
[kahy-en, key-] / kaɪˈɛn, keɪ- /

noun

  1. a seaport in and the capital of French Guiana.

  2. Also called cayenne whist(lowercase) a variety of whist played with two full packs of 52 cards each.


Cayenne British  
/ keɪˈɛn /

noun

  1. the capital of French Guiana, on an island at the mouth of the Cayenne River: French penal settlement from 1854 to 1938. Pop: 50 594 (1999)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Etymology

Origin of cayenne

1750–60; short for cayenne pepper, formerly cayan < Tupi kyinha, but long associated with Cayenne

Explanation

Cayenne is a hot pepper plant. A cayenne is related to a green bell pepper, but it's much spicier. Most cayenne is eaten as a spice — seeds from the plant are dried and ground, then judiciously sprinkled in dishes like chili and Buffalo wings. In its dry form, cayenne is a bright red powder. The word cayennne was mistakenly associated with the capital of French Guiana, Cayenne, though there's actually no relation between the place and the plant. Instead, the root is the Tupi word kyynha.

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Example Sentences

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The Cayenne recorded the highest demand in the quarter and an all-electric version of the SUV will be introduced to markets later this year, with first deliveries to customers expected from the summer.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 10, 2026

They show the couple showing off their three dozen luxury cars, including a Mercedes Benz Maybach, a Lincoln Navigator and a Porsche Cayenne.

From BBC • Sep. 17, 2025

Robots Staybehind, Sweetie, Cayenne and Hands will capture readers’ hearts.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 1, 2025

Across three U.S. clinical sites and with the support of Cayenne Wellness, a patient-driven organization, 174 adult patients and 109 parents of children living with SCD completed the survey.

From Science Daily • Oct. 31, 2023

The distance derived from measurements of the parallax of Mars carried out in 1671 by a French team using simultaneous observations by Jean Richer from Cayenne, in French Guiana, and Cassini from Paris.

From "The Scientists" by John Gribbin

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