The Chinese word for pepper is
胡椒

hú jiāo

Chinese Definition

pepper
1. 名词. 胡椒粉；胡椒；辛辣(或富于刺激性)的事物
Components
胡
1. (obsolete) wattle; dewlap (fleshy lobe hanging from the head or neck of animals)
2. (obsolete) wattle-like object, such as pendent parts on implements
3. (literary) how; why; what
4. (historical) barbarian; a generic term for any non-Han peoples who lived to the north and west of China's borders
胡人 - foreigner
5. (historical) countries and peoples in the Western Regions, including Persia, Daqin, and in Pre-Tang texts, India
6. (by extension) introduced from the northern or western non-Han peoples or from abroad; non-Chinese; foreign; imported
胡桃 - walnut
胡蘿蔔 - carrot
7. Short for 胡琴, huqin; general term for two-stringed bowed instruments with origins in the western non-Han peoples
二胡 - erhu
板胡 - banhu
8. (historical) State of Hu in the Spring and Autumn Period in modern-day Anhui, conquered by the State of Chu in 496 BCE
9. (obsolete) black; dark-skinned
10. (obsolete) far; great; senior
11. outrageously; recklessly; wildly; foolishly
胡說 - to talk nonsense
胡搞 - to mess around
胡錦-濤 - Hu Jintao, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China from 2002 to 2012
12. Simplified form of 鬍
13. Simplified form of 衚
14. Variant of 葫
15. Variant of 猢
16. Variant of 蝴
17. Variant of 糊
椒
1. (originally) Sichuan pepper
2. any similar plants and spices, such as pepper and chili
3. summit

胡椒
1. n. pepper, especially black pepper (both the plant and the spice)
2. n. Short for 胡椒粉, pepper powder
3. n. (Min Dong) nonsense; bullshit
4. n. (dialectal Mandarin) chili pepper; red pepper