1956: pasta, paste, and pastry Apr 23, 2020

When we think of 'paste', most people probably associate that with a thick liquid made as a blend of ingredients, so the fact that the word is also related to the more solid 'pastry' and 'pasta' might come as a surprise. However, consider that both pastas and pastries must first begin as a dough and the connection becomes clearer. Its original meaning from the Latin 'pasta' was something closer to 'glue-mixture', and so thick liquid, doughs, pastes, or even 'pâte' (also from this root) were lumped in together.

Support Word Facts on patreon.com/wordfacts