means A pungent spice made from the dried berries of the Piper nigrum vine, used to season food, or by extension the act of scattering something thickly (as in 'peppered with questions').

from From Old English 'pipor', borrowed from Latin 'piper', which itself came from Greek 'peperi' — and that Greek word traces back to Sanskrit 'pippali', the name for the long pepper of India. The spice traveled west along ancient trade routes long before the word settled into English, so the name is essentially a souvenir carried home from India through the Mediterranean. The hot vegetable 'pepper' (chili and bell) is a later, unrelated misnaming: when Spanish explorers met capsicum in the Americas, they called it 'pimiento' after the spice they already prized, and the borrowed name stuck.