pimento
nounUK /pɪˈmɛntəʊ/ · US /pɪˈmɛntoʊ/
Etymology Borrowed from Portuguese pimento (“bell pepper; later any pepper”), similar to Spanish pimiento, from Latin pigmentum (“coloring; colorful thing”), from pingo (“paint”) and -mentum (suffix denoting instruments and results of actions). Doublet of pigment, piment, and pimiento.
1
A red sweet pepper, a cultivar of Capsicum annuum, used to make relish, stuffed into olives, or used as spice.
- In the Middle Ages, for instance, a recipe for sex stimulation required the putrefied flesh of a human corpse, together with both human and animal testes and ovaries, pimento, and alcohol.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 14:
2
A tropical berry used to make allspice.
3
The tree on which it grows.
- Synonyms
- cherry pepper, pimiento, Spanish paprika, allspice
- Derived terms
- pimento cheese, pimento loaf