Wordwyrt

piston

/ˈpɪstən/PIH-stuhn
/ˈpɪstən/PIH-stuhn

Meaningto pound

Common meaning: a part that slides back and forth in a cylinder

Journey through time

  1. Proto-Indo-European*pis-‘pound’source
  2. Late Latinpistare‘to pound’source
  3. Italianpistone‘a piston’source
  4. Frenchmeaning shiftsto pound → a pestell, or pounding-stickpiston‘a pestell, or pounding-stick’source
  5. Englishmeaning shiftsa pestell, or pounding-stick → a part that slides back and forth in a cylinderpiston‘a part that slides back and forth in a cylinder’ · today

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Built on Late Latin pistare ‘to pound’.

Source words

  • pistare Late Latin · source word “to pound”

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