Forms: 8 cayan, kayan, kian, kyan; also chian, chyan. [In its actual form, referred to Cayenne, the chief town of French Guiana (founded 1634); but this is app: only popular etymology, as the name in Tupi (Brazilian) is given by Martini, p. 419, as kyýnha, quiýnha, also quiya. Gul. Piso, De Indiæ utriusque Re Nat. et Med. (1658), has ‘qviya sive Piper Brasiliensis.’ The name Cayenne Pepper is unknown to French, and the Ger. Cayenne-pfeffer is prob. from Eng.]
(Also called Cayenne pepper). A very pungent powder obtained from the dried and ground pods and seeds of various species of Capsicum, esp. C. annuum and C. frutescens, of South America; used as a condiment in cookery and as a stimulant in medicine; formerly called Guinea pepper.
1756. P. Browne, Jamaica, 177. The Cayan pepper or butter of the West Indies.
1774. Westm. Mag., II. 447. Her mouth had been so heated with Chian.
1782. European Mag., II. 68. His temper hot as Kayan, taste uncouth.
1782. Schotte, in Phil. Trans., LXXIII. 93. Seasoned with Cayenne pepper.
1796. Mrs. Glasse, Cookery, iii. 28. Put to it … chyan, salt … and a little leinon juice.
1809. W. Irving, Knickerb. (1861), 87. Hideous crimes, which, like cayenne in cookery, do give a pungency and flavour to the dull detail of history.
1823. Byron, Don Juan, X. lxxii. Leavening his blood as cayenne doth a curry.
b. fig.
1784. New Spect., VII. 4/2. If you season it with a little Kyan of Scandal.
1836. Hor. Smith, Tin Trump. (1876), 216. Jokes—the cayenne of conversation and the salt of life.
1886. Sat. Rev., 6 March, 328/2. The cayenne pepper of incendiary speeches.
