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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, kay-, 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.

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Cayenne ² American  

[kahy-en, kay-] / 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.

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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)

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Other Word Forms

• cayenned
  adjective

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Etymology

Origin of cayenne

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

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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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cayenne Cayenne

My House Spice, which I use on pretty much everything, is my mother’s recipe, a Creole and Cajun spice blend with salt, pepper, granulated onion and garlic, cayenne and paprika.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026

"They used to have bread with every meal, which is a Mexican thing, and put cayenne pepper on everything. Absolutely everything. They both still spoke Spanish," says Martin.

From BBC ● Jun. 2, 2026

A hit of Worcestershire deepens the savoriness, and a dusting of cayenne on the finished dish offers a quiet jolt, just enough to make you notice it.

From Salon ● Dec. 18, 2025

The fried chicken is typically coated in a mixture of cayenne and paprika that singes the tongue.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2025

She hands me a cup of spicy cayenne tea and another sliver of chocolate, and adds a leech to each wrist.

From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton

Porsche’s new Cayenne Turbo Electric swings a mighty strapline: Behold, the most powerful production Porsche ever built.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026

The German carmaker’s new 2035 strategy mentions additional models and derivatives above 911 and Cayenne but no trimming of the product range at the lower end, the bank adds.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 11, 2026

Current models like the four-door Panamera and Cayenne will continue to be available with non-electric options well into the 2030s, it added.

From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2025

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

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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