Where does “piston” come from?
Piston comes from French piston, from Italian pistone, from Latin pistare, from Latin pinso meaning to pound or crush, from Proto-Indo-European peys-.
piston (English): A solid disk or cylinder that fits inside a...
Definitions
- A solid disk or cylinder that fits inside a...
Ancestry of “piston”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | piston | piston; contact, connection |
| 2 | Italian | pistone | piston; valve - of a musical instrument |
| 3 | Latin | pistāre | — |
| 4 | Latin | pīnsō | to beat, pound |
| 5 | Spanish | pienso | animal feed; thought |
| 6 | Latin | pēnsum | allotment, portion, weight (of wool measured out to a slave to spin in a day) |
| 7 | Latin | pendō | to weigh, weigh out |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | pendō | hang, put in a hanging position |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | (s)péndeti | — |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | (s)pend- | to stretch |