胡こ椒しょう

こ

しょ

う

Common wordJLPTN3Freq.FrequencyTop 20,000

Meanings

1

noun

pepper

usually written using kana alone

Refers to the spice, typically black pepper. Used in cooking and everyday contexts.

料りょう理りにこしょうを少しょう々しょう加くわえてください。
Please add a little pepper to the dish.
このスープはこしょうが効き

い

て

いる

。

This soup has a good kick of pepper.

Written forms

胡こ椒しょうUsage22%
Standard kanji spelling, though It is usually written in kana.
こしょうUsage53%
Kana spelling is very common.
コショウUsage24%
kana-only spelling
Katakana spelling, often used in recipes or product labels.
コショーUsage1%
- コショー
  kana-only spelling
- こしょう
  Informal or colloquial katakana variant with long vowel; less common.

Kanji

胡barbarian, foreign
椒Japanese pepper tree

Similar words

塩しお
Salt, often paired with pepper as a basic seasoning.
唐とう辛がら子し
Chili pepper, a different spice with heat, not the same as black pepper.

Etymology

The kanji 胡椒 are ateji (phonetic characters) borrowed from Chinese, where they originally referred to pepper. The reading こしょう is a Japanese approximation of the Chinese pronunciation.