cayenne

• IPA^(key): /kaɪˈɛn/, /keɪˈɛn/, /ˈkaɪ.ɛn/, /ˈkeɪ.ɛn/, /ˈkaɪ.æn/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛn

cayenne (countable and uncountable, plural cayennes)

1. Ellipsis of cayenne pepper.

   Coordinate term: jalapeño

   What's the difference between a cayenne and a jalapeno?

   His barbecue sauce could use a hint of cayenne to heat it up a bit.

2. (figurative) Spice or verve.
   • 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXIV, in Romance and Reality. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 316:

     We speak ill of our neighbours, not from ill-nature, but idleness; satire is only the cayenne of conversation:...

3. A strong red-orange colour, like the cayenne pepper. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

   cayenne:  

• IPA^(key): /ka.jɛn/

From Vulgar Latin *caya (“house”)^[1]

cayenne f (plural cayennes)

1. (historical, military) navy barracks

From poivre (piment) de Cayenne, from Cayenne.^[2]

cayenne m (uncountable)

1. (cooking) cayenne pepper

   Synonyms: poivre de Cayenne, piment de Cayenne

• “cayenne”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.