Why does chilly mean cold?

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asked May 4, 2022 in Other-Food Drink by Robeson (2,490 points)
Why does chilly mean cold?

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answered May 11, 2022 by GrahamPolk (4,520 points)
Chilly means cold because chilly is cold enough to cause shivering; or suddenly feeling cold while cold is (of a thing) having a low temperature.

While chili, Chile and chilly sound the same, they can't be used interchangeably.

If you're talking about the pepper or the popular food usually made with meat and beans, it's chili.

By the way, the plural is chilies.

A chilli was originally called chile in Nahuatl.

The Spanish then took this into their own language and the English language borrowed it from them.

So the fact it is called a chilli has nothing to do with its temperature at all - it's just the word that was originally used for it in another language.

Chilly means mildly cold or producing a sensation of cold; causing shivering; chill: a chilly breeze. feeling cold; sensitive to cold: Her hands were chilly. without warmth of feeling; cool: a chilly reply.

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