pistole

UK/ˈpɪstəʊl/US/ˈpɪstoʊl/

pistole noun: a Spanish gold double-escudo coin of the mid-sixteenth century, or any of various gold coins derived from or based on this.

Noun

pistole (plural pistoles)

(historical) A Spanish gold double-escudo coin of the mid-sixteenth century, or any of various gold coins derived from or based on this.
- Ralph and I were inseparable Companions. We took Lodgings together in Little Britain at 3/6 per Week, as much as we could then afford. He found some Relations, but they were poor & unable to assist him. He now let me know his Intentions of remaining in London, and that he never meant to return to...1793, Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, §21
(broadly) A disc-shaped piece of chocolate, the size of a coin, designed for melting when cooking.
- They were exceptional semi-sweet chocolate chips, with a flat shape that I’ve recreated here with chocolate pistoles, flat wafers or disks each about ⅞ inch in diameter. The pistoles disperse randomly through the dough, so that slicing the logs into cookies creates an attractive mosaic, with little...2008, Flo Braker, “Say It with Cookies”, in Baking for All Occasions: A Treasury of Recipes for Everyday Celebrations, Chronicle Books, →ISBN, Chocolate Chip Cookie Logs, page 275
- The chocolate that I prefer for most recipes for this book is bittersweet chocolate pistoles. I like their flavor, size, and convenience.2008, Warren Brown, “Pound Cakes”, in CakeLove: How to Bake Cakes from Scratch, Stewart, Tabori & Chang, →ISBN, Chocolate-Apricot Pound Cake

Proper noun capitalized: Pistole

Pistole (plural Pistoles)

A surname from German.

Examples of pistole in a sentence

I had 15 Pistoles: So he borrowed occasionally of me, to subsist while he was looking out for Business. [...]1793, Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, §21:
They were exceptional semi-sweet chocolate chips, with a flat shape that I’ve recreated here with chocolate pistoles, flat wafers or disks each about ⅞ inch in diameter.2008, Flo Braker, “Say It with Cookies”, in Baking for All Occasions: A Treasury of Recipes for Everyday Celebrations, Chronicle Books...
Chocolate pistoles from the manufacturer work best, as they arrive tempered and are uniform in size.2017, R. Andrew Chlebana, The Advanced Art of Baking & Pastry, Wiley, →ISBN, page 430:

Forms of pistole

Noun
plural	pistoles
Proper noun
plural	Pistoles

Origin of pistole

Borrowed from French pistole, of uncertain origin. Probably ultimately from Czech píšťala (“whistle”), from Proto-Slavic *piščalь, from *piskati, *piščati (“to squeak, whistle”), from Proto-Balto-Slavic *pīṣk-. Alternatively, perhaps from Pistoia (a city in Tuscany).

Borrowed from German Pistole (“pistol”), probably a nickname for an aggressive person.

Words that rhyme with pistole

47 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about pistole

What does pistole mean?: Pistole means a Spanish gold double-escudo coin of the mid-sixteenth century, or any of various gold coins derived from or based on this.
How do you use pistole in a sentence?: I had 15 Pistoles: So he borrowed occasionally of me, to subsist while he was looking out for Business. [...]
What part of speech is pistole?: Pistole can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce pistole?: Pistole is pronounced /ˈpɪstəʊl/ (UK).
What is the plural of pistole?: The plural of pistole is pistoles.

Words near pistole in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: pistole (page history and authors); Pistole (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “pistole.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pistole. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.