pellet [LME] Pellet is from Old French pelote ‘metal ball’, from a diminutive of Latin pila ‘ball’. Latin pila is also the source of *pill, originally balls of medicine, and piles for haemorrhoids (both LME). Platoon [M16th] is a less obvious relative. It comes from French peloton ‘platoon’, literally ‘small ball’. It captured the concept of a small body of foot soldiers acting as a closely organized unit.