pesto
n.n. a green sauce made from basil, garlic, olive oil, and nuts. You usually use it to add flavor to pasta or bread.
n. a green sauce traditionally made from basil, garlic, olive oil, and pine nuts, often used as a condiment for pasta or bread.
I always add some pesto to my pasta.
The chef prepared a fresh basil pesto to serve with the grilled vegetables and crusty bread.
While traditional pesto relies on pine nuts, many modern variations substitute walnuts or sunflower seeds to accommodate various dietary restrictions without sacrificing the sauce's characteristic nutty flavor.
Appears 1850 in Cottage economy, attributed to William Cobbett (but not found in any editions published during his life). From Italian pesto, from Latin pistus (“crushed, pounded”), from Latin pīnsō (“to pound, beat, crush”). Cognate to pestle.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Last updated May 19, 2026