Other forms: chilis
A chili is the small hot pepper that sets your mouth on fire. Red chili, chili powder, add a chili.
This is the American spelling; British English writes chilli and Spanish chile, and all three are the same thing. The heat comes from capsaicin and is measured on the Scoville scale, from the mild poblano to the ferociously hot Carolina Reaper. Most of the heat is in the white pith rather than the seeds. Note chili con carne, often shortened simply to chili in America, which is the stew rather than the pepper.
1nounchiliA small hot pepper.
“One chili is enough for the whole pan.”
synonyms: chilli, chili pepper
2nounspicedA spiced stew of meat and beans.
“On bonfire night, we ate bowls of chili with rice and sour cream.”
chili is a hot pepper, or a stew.
Also accepted in games: chilli, chili pepper
The word comes from Nahuatl chilli, the language of the Aztecs, by way of Spanish. It arrived in Europe with the plant itself after 1492, and it has nothing whatever to do with the country Chile.
nci
chīlli
Spanish
chile
English, today
chili
Borrowed from Spanish chile, from nci chīlli.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA