Meanings
plural Scoville heat units
- The unit in which the Scoville scale is measured.
There is the Ghost Chili (Bhut Jolokia) which sits at a scorching 1,001,304 Scoville heat units.
2013, Mike Lee, Vegan Mexican Food For Chowhounds!, page iSynonyms: SHU, Scoville, Scoville unit
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe unit in which the Scoville scale is measured.
Origin
From Scoville + heat + unit. From Wilbur Scoville, who invented the unit and its scale. From being a unit of measure of the perceived heat or burning from the spiciness engendered by the capsaicin content.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Scoville heat unit. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Scoville%20heat%20unit
“Scoville heat unit.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Scoville%20heat%20unit. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Scoville heat unit,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Scoville%20heat%20unit.
Source: Scoville heat unit on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.