Etymograph

English

pellet

Pellet comes from Old French pelote ‘small ball’, and goes back to Latin pila.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpila1‘ball’
  2. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*pilotta1reconstructeddiminutive of pila
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400pelote1‘small ball’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pelote1
  5. Englishtodaypellet1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English pellet

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpilaWiktionary, English pellet‘ball’
  2. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*pilottaWiktionary, English pelletreconstructeddiminutive of pila
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400peloteWiktionary, English pellet‘small ball’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500peloteWiktionary, English pellet
  5. EnglishtodaypelletWiktionary, English pellet

Linked words

through Latin pilus ‘hair’

plush, piles, peel, pilar, pillage, 21 more

through Latin pila ‘ball’

pile, pill, pila, 6 more

through Old French pelote ‘small ball’

peloton, 1 more

Today it means

noun A small, compressed, hard chunk of matter.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “pellet”. 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 / Latin pila / pellet

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