Etymograph

English

pilule

Pilule comes from Latin pilula ‘a small ball, globule’, and goes back to pila.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpila1‘ball, globe’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpilula2‘a small ball, globule’
  3. Englishtodaypilule2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin pilula
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English pilule

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpilaWiktionary, Latin pilula‘ball, globe’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpilulaWiktionary, English pilule‘a small ball, globule’
  3. EnglishtodaypiluleWiktionary, English pilule

Linked words

through Latin pilus

peel, plush, piles, pillage, pilar, 20 more

through Latin pila ‘ball, globe’

pile, pillar, pellet, peloton, pila, 4 more

through Latin pilula ‘a small ball, globule’

pill, 1 more

Today it means

noun A little pill.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “pilule”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin pilula. 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 / pilule

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