Chili, Chilli, Chile: Three Spellings, One Pepper
A chili is a hot pepper. The spelling varies by country, and none of them has anything to do with the country Chile.
A chili is a hot pepper, or the spiced stew made with it. Three spellings are all standard somewhere: *chili* in the United States, *chilli* in Britain and India, *chile* in Mexico and the American southwest. None of them relates to the country Chile — the word is Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, and reached English through Spanish. Heat is measured on the Scoville scale, devised in 1912.
- A hot pepper. *A red chilli.*
- A spiced stew. *A bowl of chili.*
- Chilli powder — the ground spice. *A spoon of chilli powder.*
- Scoville scale — the heat measure. *Measured in Scoville units.*
- Capsaicin — the compound that burns. *Capsaicin causes the heat.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun (US) | chili | Chili peppers. |
| Noun (UK) | chilli | A hot chilli. |
| Plural | chillies | Two chillies. |
| Compound | chilli powder | Chilli powder. |
| Nahuatl | chilli | The source word. |
- Add two chopped chillies.British recipe.
- He made a pot of chili.American stew.
- Capsaicin is what makes them burn.Chemistry.
Why chillies burn
- Capsaicin binds to a receptor that also detects heat
- The brain reads it as burning although nothing is hot
- Birds are unaffected — they lack the receptor, and spread the seeds
- Milk helps because capsaicin dissolves in fat, not water
- The Scoville scale measures how much dilution removes the heat
Spanish *chile*, from Nahuatl *chilli*, the name of the plant. It has no connection with the South American country, whose name has a separate origin.
Which spelling is correct?
All three. Chili is American, chilli British and Indian, chile common in Mexico and the American southwest.
Why does milk help with chilli heat?
Capsaicin dissolves in fat rather than water, so milk carries it away where a glass of water does not.