Etymology

pestle

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Today it means: A club-shaped, round-headed stick used in a mortar to pound, crush, rub or grind things. Full definition →

Middle English pestel ← Old French pestel ← Latin pistillum
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The story

  1. Latin · derived frompistillum
  2. Old French · derived frompestel
  3. Middle English · inherited frompestel
  4. English todaypestle

From Middle English pestel, pestell, from Old French pestel, from Latin pistillum, from pīnsō (“pound, beat”). Doublet of pistil and pistillum.

Words from the same roots

Latinpistillum all →

pistillidiumpistillum

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.