pasta vs couscous

pasta and couscous both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
pasta	Yes	No	No	No
couscous	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, couscous is a hyponym of pasta; that is, couscous is a word with a more specific, narrower meaning than pasta:

pasta (noun)	couscous (noun)
shaped and dried dough made from flour and water and sometimes egg	a pasta made in northern Africa of crushed and steamed semolina
a dish that contains pasta as its main ingredient	a spicy dish that originated in northern Africa; consists of pasta steamed with a meat and vegetable stew