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For example, do you say "hot soup"? I ask this because the word "hot" is ambiguous. It could mean "spicy." If "hot soup" is ambiguous, what do you call it? The shorter, the better.

Jacob R.
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Makoto Kato
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    You can't tell from only hot. Context (which you didn't give) should tell you which one it means. You could plug in a number of synonyms for hot. – user3169 Sep 19 '16 at 05:26
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    Native speakers use spicy hot to refer to food which is flavored with peppers, and hot to refer to food with a high temperature. If it should be necessary to make the distinction in conversation, NAmE speakers will use spicy hot for pepper-flavored food, and fire hot to refer to high-temperature food. For instance, at Tempo Doeloe in Amsterdam, over a plate of rijsttafel, we might gasp: "Whew, that's hot - spicy hot, not fire hot!" – P. E. Dant Reinstate Monica Sep 19 '16 at 08:10
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    Also related: Meaning of hot and spicy – J.R. Sep 19 '16 at 14:53
  • I personally don't ever say "fire hot" but either "hot hot" or "temperatures-wise hot" when wanting to clarify that I mean a food is hot in temperature. This goes for all native speakers of American English that I know. – Alan Carmack Sep 19 '16 at 14:57

1 Answers1

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The more common meaning and the first definition of hot you'll find in dictionaries is related to temperature. It is generally and in my experience easily understood by context if hot is used to mean spicy. So if you are being served something which is both hot and spicy, both terms are used.

Hot:

having a high temperature:

  • a hot, sunny day hot a hot drink/meal It's too hot in here, can we turn down the heating? Bake the cake in a hot oven, about 220°C, for 30 minutes. The food was piping hot (= very hot).

(Cambridge Dictionary)