cayenne

What it means

1. abbreviationcountableellipsisuncountableEllipsis of cayenne pepper.

   What's the difference between a cayenne and a jalapeno?

   1 more example

   His barbecue sauce could use a hint of cayenne to heat it up a bit.

2. countablefigurativelyuncountableSpice or verve.

   We speak ill of our neighbours, not from ill-nature, but idleness; satire is only the cayenne of conversation:...

   1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXIV, in Romance and Reality. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 316

3. countableuncountableA strong red-orange colour, like the cayenne pepper.

In a sentence

What's the difference between a cayenne and a jalapeno?

Where it comes from

1. Frenchcayenne“naval barracks, shore kitchen”
2. FrenchCayenne
3. EnglishCayenne

From French Cayenne, a form of Guyana. But said by the French to be from French cayenne (“naval barracks, shore kitchen”).