pepperoni

noun

pep·​per·​o·​ni ˌpe-pə-ˈrō-nē How to pronounce pepperoni (audio)
: a highly seasoned beef and pork sausage

Examples of pepperoni in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The dish is made of a 16-ounce Angus beef patty, lettuce, tomato, marinara sauce, and melted mozzarella cheese, and sandwiched between two pepperoni pizzas. Lydia Mansel, Southern Living, 3 Oct. 2025 It’s known for its pizza bread with a pizza sauce, pepperoni and cheese filling, selling more than 700 a day, VanLue said, at $6 each. Susan Selasky, Freep.com, 2 Oct. 2025 Another best seller is the Aztec pizza made with sausage, onions, mushrooms, pepperoni, shrimp, bacon and jalapenos, according to Varela. Alyssa N. Salcedo, jsonline.com, 24 Sep. 2025 Look for both deep-dish and thin-crust versions of cheese, pepperoni and sausage-mushroom pizzas. Linda Zavoral, Mercury News, 23 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for pepperoni

Word History

Etymology

Italian peperoni cayenne peppers, plural of peperone, augmentative of pepe pepper, from Latin piper — more at pepper

First Known Use

1888, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of pepperoni was in 1888

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Pepperoni.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pepperoni. Accessed 6 Oct. 2025.

Kids Definition

pepperoni

noun
pep·​per·​o·​ni ˌpep-ə-ˈrō-nē How to pronounce pepperoni (audio)
: a highly seasoned beef and pork sausage

More from Merriam-Webster on pepperoni

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