Peri Peri Or Piri Piri Jun 2026

Find specific for both Portuguese and South African styles.

To understand the divergence, one must first look to the root of the word, which is decidedly neither Portuguese nor English. Both spellings are transliterations of the Swahili word for "pepper," pili-pili . The chili plant itself is native to the Americas, arriving in Africa and Asia via the Columbian Exchange in the 15th and 16th centuries. Portuguese explorers and traders encountered these fiery chilies in their voyages along the coasts of Mozambique and Angola. Struggling with the Swahili pronunciation, Lusophone tongues morphed the "l" sound into an "r," birthing the term piri-piri . Therefore, strictly speaking from an etymological standpoint, the Portuguese spelling is the closer approximation to the Anglicized version of the original African word. peri peri or piri piri