Etymograph

English

pastille

Pastille comes from Old French pastel.

  1. Old Frenchc. 842–1400pastel1
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pastil1
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1891pastille1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English pastille
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1891, Oscar Wilde: “At the end he felt faint and sick, and…”.

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Old Frenchc. 842–1400pastelWiktionary, English pastille
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pastilWiktionary, English pastille
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1891pastilleWiktionary, English pastille. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1891, Oscar Wilde: “At the end he felt faint and sick, and…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *peh₂- ‘to protect, to ward’

company, food, father, pain, feed, pope, pattern, apparent, foster, fur, companion, papa, penetration, patriot, patron, pastor, fodder, perpetrator, fad, forage, accompaniment, paternal, paternity, ayr, padre, pasture, patrician, perpetrate, panini, patrimony, pater, pav, compere, pantaloons, pannier, 58 more

through Old French pastel

pastel

Today it means

noun A flavoured candy or sweet, often round and somewhat flat in shape.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “pastille”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Old French pastel / pastille

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