Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

mortar

/ˈmoːtə/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.75 in modern English

Syllables
mor-tar
IPA
/ˈmoːtə/
8
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A mixture of lime or cement, sand and water used for bonding building blocks.

Uncountable

noun

A hollow vessel used to pound, crush, rub, grind or mix ingredients with a pestle.

Countable

noun

A short, heavy, large-bore cannon designed for indirect fire at very steep trajectories.

Countable

noun

A relatively lightweight, often portable indirect fire weapon which transmits recoil to a base plate and is designed to lob explosive shells at very steep trajectories.

Countable

noun

In paper milling, a trough in which material is hammered.

Countable

verb

To use mortar or plaster to join two things together.

Transitive verb

verb

To pound in a mortar.

Transitive verb

verb

To fire a mortar (weapon).

Example Sentences

Etymology

From Middle English morter, from Old French mortier, from Latin mortārium. Doublet of mortarium.

Origin

Word Breakdown

Regional Pronunciation

  • American English: /ˈmoːtə/
  • British English: /ˈmɔːtə/

Usage

Inflected Forms

mortars (plural) morter (alternative, archaic) mortars (present, singular) mortaring (participle, present) mortared (participle, past) mortared (past)

Derived Forms

antimortar micromortar mortarboard mortarless mortarlike mortarman mortary unmortared

Phrases

air mortar brick-and-mortar brick and mortar bricks-and-mortar clicks and mortar debris mortar diamond mortar life mortar

Frequently Paired Words

bricks and mortar gun howitzer

Synonyms

mortar and pestle pestle and mortar howitzer trench mortar

Rhymes With

quarter reporter shorter supporter porter exporter transporter importer sorter mcwhorter courter snorter

Questions

How do you pronounce mortar?
The recorded pronunciation is /ˈmoːtə/.
What does mortar mean?
A mixture of lime or cement, sand and water used for bonding building blocks.
Where does mortar come from?
It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce mortar

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “mortar”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈmoːtə/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “mortar”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “mortar” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.