means Describing food that produces a hot, pungent, burning sensation in the mouth, or by extension anything risqué, exciting, or provocative.

from From "spice" plus the adjective ending "-y." "Spice" came into English from Old French "espice," which traces back to Latin "species" — meaning a "kind" or "sort," the same root behind biological "species." In late Latin and medieval commerce, "species" drifted to mean "goods" and especially the precious aromatic wares — pepper, cinnamon, cloves — that merchants prized. So "spicy" carries a quiet irony: a word for "type" became the word for the rarest, most fiery types of all. The slang sense of "racy" or "scandalous" is a much later flavoring of the same heat.