Hot or Spicy?

[liuzhou]

I had a conversation today with a friend. She is the Director of the city's CDC and was translating a paper from Chinese to English. She also an excellent qualified medical translator. Her medical English is better than mine.

 

She was confused as she knows people often use 'spicy' when they mean 'hot' referring to the capcaisin content of chillies, and wasn't sure which word to use. In Chinese, the two are very distinct. Spice is 香 and chilli hot is 辣. Heat hot is a completely different word - 热.

 

As she rightly pointed out, not all spices are hot. I explained that many people do use the two terms interchangeably and suggested that to be absolutely clear she could use the term 'spicy hot', which is certainly used in the UK. However, I'm not sure how widespread that is in other Englishes. 

 

So, my question is how would you distinguish the two meanings? It is for medical purposes, but not for medical professionals, so needs to be unambiguous.

 

Thanks.

 

Edited January 22 by liuzhou (log)

[BeeZee]

I think “spicy” is preferable. In my household, we have a little joke about soup being “thermally hot” but the genesis of that was someone’s confusion of “hot vs spicy”.

[liuzhou]

17 minutes ago, BeeZee said:

I think “spicy” is preferable. In my household, we have a little joke about soup being “thermally hot” but the genesis of that was someone’s confusion of “hot vs spicy”.

 

I can't agree spicy is preferable. Many, perhaps most, spices are not 'hot'. What about cinnamon or fennel seeds, to pick two at random.

[chromedome]

I lack your academic grounding in the use of language, but am a heavy reader and prolific writer of informational content (that's how I earn my living). FWIW, since you're canvassing for opinions, I think your suggestion of "spicy hot" is probably the best option here. I've certainly heard and seen it used to make exactly this distinction, verbally here in Canada and in written conversations with/between friends and colleagues in the US. I suppose it may be a slightly inelegant construct, but it's unambiguous and that's the desired outcome.

[blue_dolphin]

I agree with @chromedome. “Spicy hot” is simple and would be widely understood to refer to the capsaicin-induced sensation. 

[Alex]

For this medical context, I also agree. Disambiguation is good.

[liuzhou]

Thanks. You have all answered my main concern, the acceptability of 'spicy hot' in other varieties of English.

Edited January 22 by liuzhou (log)

[KennethT]

I've personally never heard the term "spicy hot" but I know exactly what it means when I see it so I think it would be the best option.  In my sphere, spicy typically denotes heat from chillies and does not refer to flavors from various spices.  Hot is a temperature term, although I have heard people in my mother's generation using the term hot to denote both chilli heat and temperature, which ALWAYS leads to the question - "what kind of hot is it?"

[liuzhou]

The question in the UK is usually "spicy hot or heat hot?"

 

 

 

 

Edited January 22 by liuzhou (log)

[cdh]

Spicy hot works, and I'm sure I've heard it before, though not sure whether in the UK or US.  "Chilli* hot" would be the alternative that comes to mind as a runner up, as it tags both the source and sensation. And, as an aside, yes, cinnamon can be spicy hot.  There is a whole genre of candy that appears this time of year to celebrate that fact-  cinnamon hearts.  

 

*or whatever your preferred spelling is to refer to products of the capsicum plant... chili, chile, chilli, etc... 

Edited January 22 by cdh (log)

[TdeV]

Spicy hot is clear to me.

[weinoo]

On 1/22/2024 at 8:41 AM, KennethT said:

In my sphere, spicy typically denotes heat from chillies and does not refer to flavors from various spices. 

 

Indeed - the other night, Significant Eater and I were having dinner at Ayada Thai.  She took her first bite of a pork dish I'd ordered, and said: "This is pretty spicy!"

[liuzhou]

Well, yes I'm aware that the terminology varies from place to place which is precisely why I was looking for an unambiguous expression. My friend has run with the 'spicy hot' suggestion.

Edited January 24 by liuzhou (log)