pestle
pronunciation
How to pronounce pestle in British English:
UK [ˈpesl]
How to pronounce pestle in American English:
US [ˈpɛsəl, ˈpɛstəl]
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- Noun:
- machine consisting of a heavy bar that moves vertically for pounding or crushing ores
- a heavy tool of stone or iron (usually with a flat base and a handle) that is used to grind and mix material (as grain or drugs or pigments) against a slab of stone
- a club-shaped hand tool for grinding and mixing substances in a mortar
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- Verb:
- grind or pulverize in a pestle
Word Origin
- pestle
- pestle: see piston
- pestle (n.)
- mid-14c. (as a surname late 13c.), from Old French pestel, from Latin pistillum "pounder, pestle," related to pinsere "to pound," from PIE *pis-to-, suffixed form of root *peis- "to crush" (cognates: Sanskrit pinasti "pounds, crushes," pistah "anything ground, meal," Greek ptissein "to winnow," Old Church Slavonic pišo, pichati "to push, thrust, strike," pišenica "wheat," Russian pseno "millet").