Meaning
mortar
- A heavy bowl used with a pestle for crushing and grinding ingredients
- A short artillery piece that fires explosive shells at high angles
In a sentence
Per preparare il vero pesto alla genovese serve un mortaio di marmo.
To make authentic Genovese pesto, you need a marble mortar.
I soldati hanno posizionato il mortaio dietro la collina.
The soldiers positioned the mortar behind the hill.
Hai mai schiacciato le spezie a mano con il mortaio?
Have you ever crushed spices by hand with a mortar?
Word forms (2)
| Word | Word forms |
|---|---|
| mortaio | masculine · singular |
| mortai | masculine · plural |
Usage notes
- The pestle used with a kitchen mortar is called a pestello in Italian.
- Plural is mortai (single -i, unstressed).