Phrase guide

piping hot

adj · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌpaɪ.pɪŋ ˈhɒt/
  • General-American: pīʹpĭng hŏt
  • General-American: /ˌpaɪpɪŋ ˈhɑt/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɒt

1

adj

Meaning 1

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see piping, hot: very hot in a way that involves sizzling, crackling, or similar noises.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Examples

  • Near-synonyms: boiling hot, scalding hot, steaming hot, steaming, baking hot; see also Thesaurus:hot
  • Don't touch the pie! It's piping hot, straight out of the oven.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: hissing hot, boiling hot, scalding hot, steaming hot, steaming, baking hot, hot, choleric, heated

Antonyms: freezing cold, freezing, ice-cold, icy, algid, Arctic, Baltic, boreal, brass monkeys, brumal, chill, chilled, chilly, clay-cold, cold, cold as a mackerel, cold as charity, frosty, frore, frozen, gelid, glacial, hiemal, inclement, nesh, nippy, parky, polar, sleety, snowy, taters, wintry

Broader terms: hot

2

adj

Meaning 2

Very hot.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: broadly, idiomatic, not-comparable

Examples

  • Watch out — that curling iron is still piping hot.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: hissing hot, boiling hot, scalding hot, smoking hot, steaming hot, steaming, hot, choleric, heated

Antonyms: freezing cold, freezing, ice-cold, icy, algid, Arctic, Baltic, boreal, brass monkeys, brumal, chill, chilled, chilly, clay-cold, cold, cold as a mackerel, cold as charity, frosty, frore, frozen, gelid, glacial, hiemal, inclement, nesh, nippy, parky, polar, sleety, snowy, taters, wintry

Broader terms: hot

History

Etymology

From Middle English. First attested circa second half of 14th century, from the similarity between the sizzling sound of food cooking in a frying pan and that of musical pipes, from Canterbury Tales http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/2383 by Geoffrey Chaucer: :: "He singeth brokking1 as a nightingale. / He sent her piment, mead, and spiced ale, / And wafers2 piping hot out of the glede3: / And, for she was of town, he proffer'd meed." :: 1 quavering, 2 cakes, 3 coals

Across languages

Translations

14 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • French: brûlant — very hot
  • German: glühend heiß — very hot
  • Hebrew: לוֹהֵט (lohét) — very hot
  • Hindi: गर्मागर्म (garmāgarm) — very hot
  • Hungarian: tűzforró — very hot
  • Italian: bollente — very hot
  • Polish: wrzący — very hot
  • Portuguese: pelando — very hot
  • Russian: горячо (gorjačo) — very hot
  • Swedish: stekhet — very hot
  • Swedish: brännhet — very hot
  • Swedish: skållhet — very hot
  • Vietnamese: nóng hổi — very hot
  • Vietnamese: nóng hôi hổi — very hot