Etymology

pebble

peb·ble
P3E1B3B3L1E1

Today it means: A small stone, especially one rounded by the action of water. Full definition →

Middle English pibel ← Old English papolstān
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The story

  1. Old English · inherited fromstān
  2. Old English · inherited from*papol
  3. Old English · inherited frompapolstān“pebble-stone”
  4. Middle English · inherited frompibel
  5. English todaypebble

From Middle English pibel (also in pibleston), from Old English papolstān (“pebble-stone”), from Old English *papol, *pyppel, *pæbbel of unknown origin + Old English stān. Compare Albanian popël.

Words from the same roots

Old Englishpapolstān all →

pebblestonePopplestone

Old Englishstān all →

stoneStanleyStanfordStauntonstanhopeStonehamStansfieldStatonStowellStanmoreStansteadAxtonstandenstaneStanburyStanbridgeStanwixStandlakeStandonStanionStanworthStofordstyen

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.