spicy

English

Alternative forms

• spicey

Etymology

From spice +‎ -y, attested since the 16th century.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈspaɪsi/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪsi

Adjective

spicy (comparative spicier, superlative spiciest)

1. Of, pertaining to, or containing spice.

   He prepared a spicy casserole.

2. (informal, of flavors) Provoking a burning sensation due to the presence of capsaicin.

   This curry is too spicy for me. I can't eat it.

3. (of foods, flavors, or odors) Tangy, zesty, or pungent.

   She breathed in the strong, spicy aroma.

   • 1769, Firishta, translated by Alexander Dow, Tales translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi, volume I, Dublin: P. and W. Wilson et al., page iv:

     The breath of the mountain heifer was fragrant as the gales of Sirendiep, by feeding on ſpicy herbs.

4. (of expression or behavior) Vigorous; colorful; stimulating.

   He is known for his spicy political commentary.

5. Scandalous.
   • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:

     When one side or the other had written any particularly spicy dispatch, news of it was sure to slip out.

6. (Internet slang) Risky; mildly aggressive or dangerous.

   Look at the little wildcub! That's one spicy ball of fur.

7. (Internet slang) Risqué, sexy, racy; mildly pornographic.

   I don't want my children to see the spicy images on this web site.

Synonyms

• (provoking a burning sensation): hot, spicy-hot, piquant

Derived terms

• neurospicy
• spicily
• spiciness
• spicy cough
• spicy pillow
• spicy tooth

 

Translations

containing spice

• Arabic: مُتَبَّل (mutabbal)

  Hijazi Arabic: مُتَبَّل (mutabbal)

• Armenian: կծու (hy) (kcu)
• Azerbaijani: ədviyyatlı, ədviyyəli
• Belarusian: во́стры (be) (vóstry)
• Bhojpuri: मसालेदार (masālēdār)
• Bulgarian: подправен (bg) (podpraven)
• Burmese: စပ် (my) (cap)
• Catalan: especiat
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 辣 (laat⁶)

  Hokkien: 薟／莶 (zh-min-nan) (hiam)

  Mandarin: 辣 (zh) (là)

• Dutch: gekruid (nl), kruidig (nl)
• Finnish: mausteinen (fi), maustettu (fi)
• French: épicé (fr)
• Georgian: ცხარე (cxare)
• German: würzig (de), gewürzt (de), pikant (de)
• Greek: καρυκευμένος (el) m (karykevménos), πικάντικος (el) m (pikántikos)
• Hebrew: מתובל m (metubál)
• Hungarian: fűszeres (hu)
• Icelandic: sterkur (is), kryddaður
• Isan: please add this translation if you can
• Italian: speziato (it)
• Japanese: 辛い (ja) (からい, karai)
• Khmer: ហឹរ (km) (haə)
• Korean: 맵다 (ko) (maepda)
• Kyrgyz: ачуу (ky) (acuu), өткүр (ky) (ötkür)
• Lao: ເຜັດ (phet)
• Latin: acutus (la)
• Lü: ᦵᦕᧆ (ṗhed)
• Macedonian: зачинет (začinet)
• Malay: berempah
• Maori: puhahana
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Persian: تند (fa) (tond)
• Polish: pikantny (pl)
• Portuguese: temperado (pt), condimentado (pt)
• Romanian: condimentat (ro), asezonat (ro)
• Russian: пря́ный (ru) (prjányj), о́стрый (ru) (óstryj)
• Scottish Gaelic: spìosrach
• Shan: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: condimentado (es), aliñado (es), (having a sharp flavor) picante (es), sazonado (es), aromático (es)
• Swedish: kryddig (sv), kryddstark (sv)
• Tamil: please add this translation if you can
• Tangut: 𘟋 (*zar¹)
• Thai: เผ็ด (th) (pèt)
• Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: baharatlı (tr), baharlı (tr)
• Tutong: pelos
• Ukrainian: пря́ний (prjányj), го́стрий (uk) (hóstryj)
• Vietnamese: có gia vị (vi)
• Welsh: sbeisiog, sbeislyd (cy)
• White Hmong: please add this translation if you can
• Yiddish: בשׂמימדיק (besomemdik)
• Zazaki: tun (diq)
• Zhuang: please add this translation if you can

providing a burning sensation due to chilies and other spices

• Arabic: حَار (ar) (ḥār)

  Egyptian Arabic: حَرَّاق (ḥarrāʔ)

  Gulf Arabic: سبايسي m (sbāysi. spāysi)

  Hijazi Arabic: حَرَّاق (ḥarrāg), حار (ḥār)

  Lebanese Arabic: حار (ar) (ḥārr)

  Moroccan Arabic: حار (ar) (ḥārr)

  South Levantine Arabic: حار (ḥārr), بيحْرِق (béḥreg), حَرَّاق (ḥarrāg)

  Tunisian Arabic: حار (ar) (ḥārr)

• Armenian: կծու (hy) (kcu)
• Azerbaijani: tünd
• Bulgarian: пикантен (bg) (pikanten)
• Catalan: picant (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 辣 (zh) (là)

• Dutch: scherp (nl), pikant (nl)
• Finnish: tulinen (fi)
• German: scharf (de)
• Hebrew: חריף (he) m (kharíf)
• Hungarian: csípős (hu)
• Icelandic: sterkur (is)
• Indonesian: pedas (id)
• Irish: te
• Italian: piccante (it)
• Japanese: 辛い (ja)
• Malay: pedas (ms)
• Mansi:

  Northern Mansi: пе̄лп (pēlp)

• Maori: kakā, puhahana
• Portuguese: picante (pt)
• Romanian: iute (ro)
• Russian: о́стрый (ru) (óstryj)
• Scottish Gaelic: spìosrach
• Spanish: picante (es), picoso (es), alampante
• Tagalog: maanghang
• Vietnamese: cay (vi)
• Welsh: sbeislyd (cy)

tangy or pungent

• Arabic: حِرِّيف (ḥirrīf)
• Armenian: կծու (hy) (kcu)
• Azerbaijani: ədviyyəli
• Belarusian: во́стры (be) (vóstry)
• Bulgarian: лют (bg) (ljut)
• Burmese: စပ် (my) (cap), မာလာ (my) (mala)
• Catalan: picant (ca)
• Chamicuro: chawa
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 辣 (laat⁶)

  Mandarin: 辣 (zh) (là)

• Czech: ostrý (cs), pikantní
• Dutch: pikant (nl)
• Estonian: pikantne
• Finnish: pistävä (fi)
• French: épicé (fr), piquant (fr), pimenté (fr)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: scharf (de) (hot), würzig (de) (herbal)
• Greek: αψύς (el) m (apsýs)
• Hindi: मसालेदार (hi) (masāledār), तीखा (hi) (tīkhā)
• Hungarian: fűszeres (hu)
• Indonesian: pedas (id)
• Irish: láidir
• Isan: please add this translation if you can
• Italian: piccante (it)
• Japanese: 辛い (ja) (からい, karai), スパイシー (ja) (supaishī)
• Khmer: ហឹរ (km) (haə)
• Korean: 맵다 (ko) (maepda)
• Lao: ເຜັດ (phet)
• Latvian: ass (lv)
• Lithuanian: aštrus
• Lü: ᦵᦕᧆ (ṗhed)
• Macedonian: лут (lut), пика́нтен (pikánten)
• Malay: please add this translation if you can
• Maori: pūhahana
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: ostry (pl), pikantny (pl)
• Portuguese: apimentado (pt), picante (pt)
• Quechua: haya, jaya
• Romanian: picant (ro)
• Russian: о́стрый (ru) (óstryj), пря́ный (ru) (prjányj)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: љут

  Roman: ljut (sh)

• Shan: please add this translation if you can
• Slovak: ostrý
• Slovene: pekoč
• Spanish: picante (es)
• Swedish: skarp (sv), stark (sv), pikant (sv)
• Tagalog: maanghang
• Tamil: please add this translation if you can
• Thai: เผ็ด (th) (pèt)
• Tibetan: ཁ་ཚ་པོ (kha tsha po)
• Turkish: çeşnili (tr)
• Ukrainian: го́стрий (uk) (hóstryj), пря́ний (prjányj)
• Vietnamese: cay (vi)
• Welsh: sbeislyd (cy)
• White Hmong: please add this translation if you can
• Zhuang: manh

vigorous, colorful

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: pisteliäs (fi)
• Greek: ζωηρός (el) m (zoïrós)
• Hungarian: borsos (hu), zamatos (hu)
• Japanese: 辛口の (karakuchi no), とげのある (togenoaru)
• Russian: энерги́чный (ru) (energíčnyj), живо́й (ru) (živój)

racy

• Bulgarian: пикантен (bg) (pikanten)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Dutch: pikant (nl)
• Finnish: pornahtava (fi)
• German: pikant (de)
• Greek: τολμηρός (el) m (tolmirós), καυτός (el) m (kaftós)
• Hungarian: pikáns (hu)
• Japanese: 刺激的な (ja) (shigekiteki na)
• Macedonian: пика́нтен (pikánten)
• Polish: pikantny (pl)
• Romanian: picant (ro)
• Russian: пика́нтный (ru) (pikántnyj), неприли́чный (ru) (neprilíčnyj) (indecent)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Italian: ^{(please verify)} speziato (it)
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} caliente (es)

See also

Basic tastes in English (layout · text)
sweet	sour	salty	bitter	spicy	savory

References

• spicy in An American Dictionary of the English Language, by Noah Webster, 1828.
• “spicy”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• "spicy" in Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (Cambridge University Press, 2007)
• “spicy”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• Oxford English Dictionary, second edition (1989)
• Random House Webster's Unabridged Electronic Dictionary (1987-1996)

Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈspʲit͡sɨ/

Adjective

spicy

1. sleeping, asleep
2. dormant (e.g. of a volcano)

Declension

Declension of spicy

	Masculine singular	Feminine singular	Neuter singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	spicy	spica	spice	spicej	spice
Genitive	spicego	spiceje	spicego	spiceju	spicych
Dative	spicemu	spicej	spicemu	spicyma	spicym
Accusative	spicy spicego (animate)	spicu	spice	spicej spiceju (animate)	spice spicych (optional animate form)
Instrumental	spicym	spiceju	spicym	spicyma	spicymi
Locative	spicem	spicej	spicem	spicyma	spicych

Participle

spicy

1. past active participle of spaś

Declension

Declension of spicy

	Masculine singular	Feminine singular	Neuter singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	spicy	spica	spice	spicej	spice
Genitive	spicego	spiceje	spicego	spiceju	spicych
Dative	spicemu	spicej	spicemu	spicyma	spicym
Accusative	spicy spicego (animate)	spicu	spice	spicej spiceju (animate)	spice spicych (optional animate form)
Instrumental	spicym	spiceju	spicym	spicyma	spicymi
Locative	spicem	spicej	spicem	spicyma	spicych

Synonyms

• spijucy

References

• Muka, Arnošt (1921, 1928) “spicy”, in Słownik dolnoserbskeje rěcy a jeje narěcow (in German), St. Petersburg, Prague: ОРЯС РАН, ČAVU; Reprinted Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag, 2008
• Starosta, Manfred (1999) “spicy”, in Dolnoserbsko-nimski słownik / Niedersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch (in German), Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag