Mortar
/ˈmɔːr.tər/noun
A bowl or vessel used for pounding or grinding substances, or a paste used in building to bind bricks or stones.
Did you know?English mortar comes from Latin mortarium, meaning a vessel for pounding, and it’s related to mortar’s violent cousin mortar in artillery only by later metaphor, not original root.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*mer-
“to grind, pound, crush”
Latin
Latin
mortarium
“a vessel for pounding or grinding; a mortar”
Old French
Old French
mortier
“a mortar, especially a bowl for pounding or a vessel for mixing”
Middle English
English
morter
“a vessel for pounding ingredients; later also building paste”
Modern English
English
mortar
“a bowl for grinding or a binding paste used in masonry”