Spanish and Mexican chorizo share only a name — one is cured and smoked with paprika, the other raw and spiced with chili, and both owe their red color to New World peppers.
A highly seasoned pork sausage, originating from the Iberian Peninsula. Spanish chorizo is cured and smoked with pimentón (paprika); Mexican chorizo is typically fresh and uncooked.
From Spanish chorizo (sausage), possibly from Late Latin salsicium (salted sausage) via a Vulgar Latin or regional form *sauricium, or from Latin salsum (salted). The exact derivation is debated Key roots: chorizo (Spanish: "pork sausage (uncertain deeper etymology)").