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DictionaryRoot: mortarium
Latin

mortarium

a mixing bowl; mortar

Forms

  • mortarium
  • mortar — The word was shortened through French.

Origin

An old Latin vessel name whose deeper ancestry is uncertain.

Note

The vessel used for mixing gave its name to material mixed for building.

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noun / verb

mortar

MOR-ter/ˈmɔːrtər/

A mixture used to bind bricks, stones, or blocks together.

The wet mortar fills the joints between the unfinished bricks.

A close view of a small unfinished brick wall shows thick, wet gray mortar bedding the bricks and filling their joints, with a loaded masonry trowel resting beside the exposed mortar bed.
Etymology
mortarLatina mixing bowl; mortar

Latin mortarium named both building mortar and a mixing or pounding bowl. The mixture was probably named for its vessel, though which sense came first is uncertain.

In context

Universe Inside You5:09
inferior Inca repairs made of small rough stones and clay mortar
Pre-Inca Megastructures That CAN NOT Be Explained

More examples

  • They mortared the stones together.
  • The mason mixed fresh mortar.
  • She is mortaring the final row.

Forms

mortar · mortars · mortared · mortaring

Similar words

cement
Often an ingredient in mortar rather than the complete mixture.
grout
Typically fills gaps rather than bedding masonry units.