pesto

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian pesto,^[2][3][4][5] a regional word of Liguria (also Ligurian pestu), recorded in this sense from 1851 or earlier and apparently not in dictionaries of standard Italian before the early 20th century.^[2] Dictionary.com compares the Genoese form pésto.^[6] In the OED's account the sauce is a special use of Italian pesto, mash, pulp (before 1342), the adjective pesto, crushed, pounded, used as a noun (before 1306), probably from Latin pistum, the past participle of pīnsō (“to pound, crush”).^[2] The Merriam-Webster Unabridged derives the adjective from Italian pestare (“to pound”), from Late Latin pistō, a frequentative of pīnsō,^[4][5] while Etymonline and Collins take pesto as a contraction of pestato, the past participle of pestare.^[3][7][8] The Latin root is that of pestle,^[3][6] and the OED compares Occitan pistou (English pistou).^[2][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A sauce of crushed herbs, nuts, cheese, garlic and olive oil: before 1848, in A. Cobbett's addition to W. Cobbett's Cottage Economy.^[2][4] Etymonline dates the word to 1929,^[3] Dictionary.com to 1935–40, and the Shorter Oxford to the mid 20th century.^[6][8]

Semantic evolution

The name refers to the crushed herbs and garlic of the sauce,^[3] a Genoese speciality.^[3][2] It is usually made with fresh basil leaves and pine nuts and served with pasta,^[2][7] although the Merriam-Webster Unabridged defines it more broadly as a green spaghetti sauce of herbs, garlic and olive oil.^[4]

Timeline

• before 1848 – a sauce of crushed basil, nuts, cheese, garlic and olive oil.^[2][4] Etymonline dates the word to 1929.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sauce of crushed fresh basil, pine nuts, Parmesan cheese, garlic and olive oil, served especially with pasta.^[7][2][4]

Related words

• pestle
• pistou
• piston
• pisé

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press