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pis·tou

(pē-st)

1. A sauce made of garlic, basil, olive oil, and often Parmesan, used on pasta or in soups and stews.

2. A soup or stew flavored with this sauce.

[French, from Provençal, from pestar, to crush, from Old Provençal, from Late Latin pistāre; see PISTON.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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