胡こ椒しょう

こ

しょ

う

Common wordJLPTN3Freq.FrequencyTop 20,000

Meanings

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.

See all 28 example sentences ›

Usage patterns

〈物もの〉に胡こ椒しょうを振ふるto sprinkle pepper on something
スープに胡こ椒しょうを振ふってから食たべた。
I sprinkled pepper on the soup before eating it.
胡こ椒しょうを効きかせるto season something strongly with pepper
この料りょう理りは胡こ椒しょうを効きかせてあります。
This dish is seasoned with a good kick of pepper.
塩しおと胡こ椒しょうで味あじを付つけるto season with salt and pepper
肉にくに塩しおと胡こ椒しょうで味あじを付つけて焼やいた。
I seasoned the meat with salt and pepper and grilled it.

Kanji

胡barbarian, foreign
椒Japanese pepper tree

Related words

ペッパー
胡椒 is the native Japanese word for the spice, while ペッパー is the English loanword often seen in Western-style dishes, menus, and product names like ブラックペッパー.

Don't confuse with

唐とう辛がら子しN1
胡椒 refers to black or white pepper, a mild spice, while 唐辛子 is chili pepper, which is hot and often confused because English 'pepper' can mean either.

Word family

コショウソウ
garden cress
コショウダイ
crescent sweetlips; Plectorhinchus cinctus
ナガコショウ
Indian long pepper; long pepper
黒くろ胡こ椒しょう
black pepper
柚ゆ子ず胡こ椒しょう
yuzu pepper paste; yuzu kosho

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.

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.