peperone
/pe.peˈro.ne/masculine
The Italian word for bell pepper is peperone.
The term peperone refers to the spicy-sweet fruit. You can further specify the variety by adding colors or qualities, such as peperone dolce for a sweet bell pepper, peperone giallo for a yellow bell pepper, peperone rosso for a red bell pepper or peperone verde for a green bell pepper.
Meaning: spicy-sweet fruit (noun)
Which one should you use?
In Italian, peperone refers to the bell pepper fruit, while in English, the similar-sounding word 'pepperoni' refers to a type of cured meat.
How does it change in a sentence?
The singular masculine noun peperone becomes the plural form peperoni to refer to multiple bell peppers, such as in the phrase peperoni arrostiti (roasted bell peppers).
How do you pronounce it?
/pe.peˈro.ne/
What mistakes should you avoid?
English speakers often mistake the Italian plural peperoni (meaning bell peppers) with the English word 'pepperoni', which refers to a spicy sausage.
Did you know?
- If you order peperoni on a pizza in Italy, you will receive a pizza topped with bell peppers rather than the spicy meat popular in the US.
- The word peperone is derived from the Latin word piper, which originally referred to black peppercorns from Asia.
- While peperone describes the bell pepper, the word for a small, spicy chili pepper is peperoncino, which uses a diminutive suffix to imply it is a 'little pepper'.
Examples in context
- Aggiungi un peperone tagliato a cubettiAdd a diced bell pepper
- Prepara il sugo con peperoni e pomodoriPrepare the sauce with bell peppers and tomatoes
- Hai dei peperoni freschi?Do you have any fresh bell peppers?
- Il peperone rosso è molto dolce.The red bell pepper is very sweet.
- Taglia un peperone per l'insalata.Cut a bell pepper for the salad.
- Mi piace mangiare il peperone alla griglia.I like eating grilled bell pepper.
Example conversation
Martina and Francesco are preparing dinner together.
- MartinaFrancesco, puoi tagliare il peperone?Francesco, can you cut the bell pepper?
- FrancescoCerto, lo faccio subito.Sure, I'll do it right away.
- MartinaTaglialo a piccoli quadratini, per favore.Cut it into small squares, please.
- FrancescoVa bene, è pronto tra un momento.All right, it will be ready in a moment.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “bell pepper” translations and entries peperone, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries peperone, CC BY-SA 4.0.
