411: piston Jan 23, 2016

Pestles are used for grinding spices and grains, and a piston is part of an engine or other contraption. Because of the relation to the way that a piston pounds, the Italian 'pistone', or 'pestone' meaning ‘large pestle,’ comes from 'pestello' meaning ‘pestle.’ 'Pestle' itself comes from the Latin 'pistillum', which is the participle of the verb, 'pinsere' which means 'pound'.