piping hot

English

WOTD – 20 December 2007

Etymology

From Middle English. First attested circa second half of 14th century, from the similarity between the sizzling sound of food cooking in a frying pan and that of musical pipes, from Canterbury Tales [1] by Geoffrey Chaucer:

"He singeth brokking¹ as a nightingale. / He sent her piment, mead, and spiced ale, / And wafers² piping hot out of the glede³: / And, for she was of town, he proffer'd meed."

¹ quavering, ² cakes, ³ coals

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌpaɪ.pɪŋ ˈhɒt/
• (US) enPR: pīʹpĭng hŏt, IPA^(key): /ˌpaɪpɪŋ ˈhɑːt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒt

Adjective

piping hot (not comparable)

1. (idiomatic) Very hot.

   "Don't touch the pie! It's piping hot, straight out of the oven."

Translations

very hot

• German: glühend heiß
• Hungarian: tűzforró (hu)
• Italian: bollente (it)
• Polish: wrzący m
• Portuguese: pelando (pt)
• Russian: горячо (ru) (gorjačo)
• Swedish: stekhet (sv), brännhet (sv), skållhet
• Vietnamese: nóng hổi (vi), nóng hôi hổi