piston
/ˈpɪstən/noun, verb
piston is spelled P-I-S-T-O-N: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 3.0 times per million words in written English, the 15,613th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, piston means “A solid disk or cylinder that fits inside a hollow cylinder, and moves under pressure (as in an engine) or displaces fluid (as in a pump)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of piston is pistons.
How many letters and syllables are in piston?
| Letters | 6: P-I-S-T-O-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 3.0 times per million words; the 15,613th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is piston?
Piston appears 3.0 times per million words in written English, the 15,613th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce piston?
- /ˈpɪstən/
Piston has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-piston.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with piston?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as piston.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: points.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of piston
- pistons plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- pistoning participle, present
- pistoned participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does piston mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A solid disk or cylinder that fits inside a hollow cylinder, and moves under pressure (as in an engine) or displaces fluid (as in a pump)
- 2
A valve device in some brass instruments for changing the pitch
verb
- 1
To move up and down or in and out like a piston.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Piston in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | piston |
| German | Kolben , Pumpventil, Perinetventil , Piston, Zündhütchenträger |
| Portuguese | pistão |
| Spanish | pistón, émbolo |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does piston come from?
Borrowed from French piston.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).