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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

pie.

A type of pastry that consists of an outer crust and a filling. (Savory pies are more popular in the UK and sweet pies are more popular in the US, so "pie" without qualification has different connotations in these dialects.)

3 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/paɪ/UK, US/pɑɪ/Australia
  1. A type of pastry that consists of an outer crust and a filling. (Savory pies are more popular in the UK and sweet pies are more popular in the US, so "pie" without qualification has different connotations in these dialects.)

    countable · uncountable
    The family had steak and kidney pie for dinner and cherry pie for dessert.
  2. Any of various other, non-pastry dishes that maintain the general concept of a shell with a filling.

    countable · uncountable
    Shepherd's pie is made of mince covered with mashed potato.
  3. A pizza.

    Northeastern · US · countable · uncountable
  4. A paper plate covered in cream, shaving foam or custard that is thrown or rubbed in someone’s face for comical purposes, to raise money for charity, or as a form of political protest; a custard pie; a cream pie.

    countable · uncountable
  5. The whole of a wealth or resource, to be divided in parts.

    countable · figuratively · uncountable
  6. An especially badly bowled ball.

    countable · uncountable
  7. A pie chart.

    countable · uncountable
  8. Something very easy; a piece of cake.

    countable · informal · uncountable
  9. The vulva.

    countable · slang · uncountable
  10. A kilogram of drugs, especially cocaine.

    countable · slang · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English pye, pie, pey (“baked dish, filled pastry”), possibly attested earlier (c. 1199) in the surname Piehus (“pie-house?”). Further origin uncertain. Relation to Middle English pie, pye (“magpie”) has been suggested due to correspondences between other similar foods and the names of birds (compare haggis (“Scottish dish”) and haggess (“magpie”); and chewet (“meat pie”) and chewet (“chough, jackdaw”); however, the baked dish may instead be named after a creator with the surname Pie, a common name at the time. The surname is ultimately derived from the bird above, and thus from Old French pie, from Latin pīca (“magpie”). If true, then doublet of speight.

verb/paɪ/UK, US/pɑɪ/Australia
  1. To hit in the face with a pie, either for comic effect or as a means of protest (see also pieing).

    transitive
    I'd like to see someone pie the chairman of the board.
  2. To go around (a corner) in a guarded manner.

    transitive
  3. To ignore (someone).

    UK · often · slang · transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English pye, pie, pey (“baked dish, filled pastry”), possibly attested earlier (c. 1199) in the surname Piehus (“pie-house?”). Further origin uncertain. Relation to Middle English pie, pye (“magpie”) has been suggested due to correspondences between other similar foods and the names of birds (compare haggis (“Scottish dish”) and haggess (“magpie”); and chewet (“meat pie”) and chewet (“chough, jackdaw”); however, the baked dish may instead be named after a creator with the surname Pie, a common name at the time. The surname is ultimately derived from the bird above, and thus from Old French pie, from Latin pīca (“magpie”). If true, then doublet of speight.

noun/paɪ/UK, US/pɑɪ/Australia
  1. Magpie.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Middle English pye, from Old French pie, from Latin pīca, feminine of pīcus (“woodpecker”). Doublet of pica and speight.

noun/paɪ/UK, US/pɑɪ/Australia
  1. A former low-denomination coin of northern India.

    historical
Where this word comes from

From Hindi पाई (pāī, “low-denomination coin”), from Sanskrit पादिका (pādikā, “foot, shoe”), from पाद (pāda, “foot, base, quarter”) + -इक (-ika, “-ic: forming adjectives”).

noun/paɪ/UK, US/pɑɪ/Australia
  1. A traditional Spanish unit of length, equivalent to about 27.9 cm.

    historical
Where this word comes from

From Spanish pie (“foot, Spanish foot”). Doublet of foot, pes, and pous.

noun/paɪ/UK, US/pɑɪ/Australia
  1. Ellipsis of pie-dog (“an Indian breed, a stray dog in Indian contexts”).

    abbreviation · alt-of · ellipsis
Where this word comes from

From Hindi पाहि (pāhi, “migrant farmer, passer-through”), from Sanskrit पार्श्व (pārśva, “side, vicinity”).

noun/paɪ/UK, US/pɑɪ/Australia
  1. Alternative form of pi (“metal type that has been spilled, mixed together, or disordered”).

    alt-of · alternative
verb/paɪ/UK, US/pɑɪ/Australia
  1. Alternative form of pi (“to spill or mix printing type”).

    alt-of · alternative · transitive
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.