paprika

noun

pa·​pri·​ka pə-ˈprē-kə 

pa-

: a usually mild red seasoning consisting of the dried finely ground pods of various sweet peppers

also : a sweet pepper used for making paprika

Examples of paprika in a Sentence

tomato sauce made with garlic, paprika, and pepper

Recent Examples on the Web

Campbell’s, for instance, said red Goldfish get their color from beet juice concentrate and paprika from sweet red peppers. —Louis Biscotti, Forbes.com, 11 Sep. 2025

There’s no garlic powder here—just salt, pepper, cayenne, thyme, and paprika. —Alaina Chou, Bon Appetit Magazine, 8 Sep. 2025

The smells of spices and flowers—rose, neroli, mint (mint and more mint tea!), ras el hanout, cumin, saffron, paprika, coriander—and the flavors: sweet apricots, dates, walnuts, sesame desserts and, of course, oysters! —Alysia Reiner, Flow Space, 4 Sep. 2025

Toss together chicken, pepper, paprika, and 1 1/2 teaspoons of the salt in a medium bowl until evenly coated. —Marianne Williams, Southern Living, 31 Aug. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Hungarian, from Serbian & Croatian, from papar ground pepper, ultimately from Latin piper — more at pepper

First Known Use

1830, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for paprika

• arnica
• carica
• rebekah
• turcica
• chica

Kids Definition

paprika

noun

pa·​pri·​ka pə-ˈprē-kə 

pa-

: a mild red spice consisting of the dried finely ground fruit of various cultivated sweet peppers