Chile is Not a Pepper

I get inquiries every so often about Chile, the country, and its relationship to the chili pepper.

Fact: Chile’s shape on the map looks like a chili pepper.
Fiction: Chile was named after a pepper.

Chile’s name originates in the Quechua chin (”cold”), tchili (”snow”), or chilli (”where the land ends”).

While Chile wasn’t named for a pepper, chili peppers are grown in Chile and are called ají.

Posted February 28th, 2008 in Ask Pepe, Culture.

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