The chili pepper (also chile pepper or chilli pepper, from Nahuatl chīlli is the fruit of plants from the genus Capsicum, members of the nightshade family, Solanaceae. The term in British English and in Australia, New Zealand, India, Malaysia and other Asian countries is just chilli without "pepper".
Chili peppers originated in the Americas After the Columbian Exchange, many cultivars of chili pepper spread across the world, used in both food and medicine. These chili peppers arrived in Asia by the hand of the Portuguese navigators during the 16th century.