peppercorn
Appearance
See also: Peppercorn
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Inherited from Middle English peper corn, peper-corn, pepercorn, from Old English piporcorn (“peppercorn”), corresponding to pepper + corn. Compare Dutch peperkorrel (“peppercorn”), German Pfefferkorn (“peppercorn”), Danish peberkorn (“peppercorn”), Swedish pepparkorn (“peppercorn”), Icelandic piparkorn (“peppercorn”).
Pronunciation
[edit]- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈpɛpəkɔːn/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - (General American) IPA(key): /ˈpɛpɚkɔɹn/
- Hyphenation: pep‧per‧corn
Noun
[edit]peppercorn (plural peppercorns)
- The seeds of the pepper plant Piper nigrum, commonly used as a spice, usually ground or crushed.
- A small, insignificant quantity; a whit or jot.
- 1961, Book Production Magazine, volumes 73-74, page 47:
- A 75 ¢ book must look 40 ¢ better to the distributor and wholesaler, because if one peppercorn of doubt that people will pay 75 ¢ for the book gets thrown into the distribution mill, the books may never leave their cartons […]
- (law, attributive) A nominal consideration used to satisfy the requirements for the creation of a legal contract.
Usage notes
[edit]The use of a peppercorn as consideration in legal contracts is commonly literal (even in the modern day)—frequently as a peppercorn rent—but it is invariably accompanied by a proviso that it need only be physically provided if actually demanded.
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]the seeds of the plant Piper nigrum
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Gallery
[edit]-
young peppercorn
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Fruits of peppercorn
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Dried peppercorn
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varieties of peppercorn
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English compound terms
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- en:Law
- English terms with collocations
- en:Piperales order plants
- en:Spices and herbs