Pellet

How to spell pellet

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce pellet

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does pellet mean?

1. nounA small rounded or compressed mass of a substance, such as food, medicine, or metal shot.

Pellet in a sentence

• The rabbit nudged a single food pellet across the cage floor.

• He pressed the powder into a small pellet for the machine.

Where does pellet come from?

Language of origin: French

The word pellet comes from the Old French pelote or pelot, meaning a small ball, which itself goes back to the Latin pila, a ball or playing ball, with a diminutive ending added to mean 'little ball'. English adopted it in the 1300s, originally for a small rounded missile, especially the rounded stone or metal ball fired from a sling or early gun. From that core idea of a tiny compacted sphere the meaning broadened to cover any small rolled or pressed pellet, such as those of food, medicine, or wax. The same Latin pila lies behind 'platoon' and is a cousin of 'pill', another little ball of compressed material. The single l in 'pel-' followed by the doubled handling in spelling can trip writers, but the diminutive '-et' ending is the same one seen in 'bullet', another small ball-shaped projectile.

How the word is built

• pell- (from Latin pila: ball)
• -et (diminutive suffix: small)