peppercorn
Americannoun
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peppercorns
plural
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the berry of the pepper plant, Piper nigrum, dried and used as a condiment, in pickling, etc.
-
anything very small or insignificant.
adjective
noun
-
the small dried berry of the pepper plant ( Piper nigrum )
-
something trifling
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of peppercorn
before 1000; Middle English pepercorn; Old English piporcorn. See pepper, corn 1
Explanation
If you've ever filled a pepper grinder, you know what peppercorns are — they're those tiny round balls that become black pepper when they're crushed. Before they're harvested, peppercorns are berries on a vine. The plant is native to Kerala, India, but grows in many warm places, including Vietnam, which exports most of the world's peppercorns. Once dried, peppercorns are ground and used to season food. Most are black, but you can also find green, white, and even pink peppercorns, which all have slightly different flavors.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The peppercorn sauce is done with all Indian spices.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
To investigate the source of mummy scents, researchers examined the air surrounding extremely small mummy fragments about the size of a peppercorn.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 16, 2026
Then came thick-cut, tableside-smoked bacon glazed with maple and peppercorn alongside a fig-topped heirloom tomato salad.
From Salon ● Mar. 7, 2026
Calls have also intensified for Andrew to give up his Royal Lodge home in Windsor Great Park after it emerged he paid a "peppercorn rent" for more than 20 years.
From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2025
Zola pinches her lips as if she has sucked on a peppercorn.
From "The Unfinished Angel" by Sharon Creech
The cooked lettuce is then topped with fragrant crushed peppercorns and minced garlic, both cooked together in ghee over medium-high heat.
From Salon ● Jul. 25, 2026
The real zing comes from her addition of toasted and crushed Sichuan peppercorns.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 21, 2025
Some have the delicate crunch of fried sesame seeds, garlic or crushed peanuts, or the mouth-numbing tingle of Sichuan peppercorns.
From New York Times ● Apr. 5, 2024
Soon other Chinese immigrants followed, many from Hunan and Sichuan, another southern province, known for fiery, numbing flavours produced by its tiny but potent peppercorns.
From BBC ● Jan. 6, 2024
And I knew that black peppercorns could be used to protect you or to put a jinx on someone.
From "Root Magic" by Eden Royce
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
