pie

• enPR: pī
  • (US, UK), IPA^(key): /paɪ/

    • Audio (US)

      (file)

  • (General Australian) IPA^(key): /pɑɪ/

    • Audio (AU)

      (file)

• Homophone: pi
• Rhymes: -aɪ

From Middle English pye, pie, pey, perhaps from Old English *pīe (“pastry”) (compare Old English pīe, pēo (“insect, bug”)), attested in early Middle English piehus (“bakery”, literally “pie-house”) c. 1199. Relation to Medieval Latin pica, pia (“pie, pastry”) is unclear, as there are no similar terms found in any Romance languages; therefore, like Irish pióg (“pie”), the Latin term may have been simply borrowed from the English.

Some sources state the word comes from Latin pīca (“magpie, jay”) (from the idea of the many ingredients put into pies likened to the tendency of magpies to bring a variety of objects back to their nests), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peyk- (“woodpecker; magpie”), though this has its controversies. However, if so, then it is a doublet of pica.

pie (countable and uncountable, plural pies)

1. A type of pastry that consists of an outer crust and a filling.

   The family had steak and kidney pie for dinner and cherry pie for dessert.

   • c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:

     SATURNINUS: Go fetch them hither to us presently.
     TITUS: Why, there they are, both baked in that pie,
     Whereof their mother daintily hath fed,
     Eating the flesh that she herself hath bred.

2. Any of various other, non-pastry dishes that maintain the general concept of a shell with a filling.

   Shepherd's pie is made of mince covered with mashed potato.

3. (Northeastern US) A pizza.
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.
5. (figuratively) The whole of a wealth or resource, to be divided in parts.
   • 2010 December 4, Evan Thomas, “Why It’s Time to Worry”, in Newsweek‎:

     It is easier to get along when everyone, more or less, is getting ahead. But when the pie is shrinking, social groups are more likely to turn on each other.

6. (cricket) An especially badly bowled ball.
7. A pie chart.
   • 1986, Carolyn Sorensen, Henry J. Stock, Department of Education Computer Graphics Guide, page 8:

     Pies are best for comparing the components of only one or two totals.

8. (informal) Something very easy; a piece of cake.
   • 1989, PC Mag, volume 8, number 5, page 91:

     Programmers haven't exactly been wild about certain Microsoft policies — such as the price of the OS/2 developer's kit or the fib about how Microsoft Windows code would be pie to translate to the Presentation Manager.

9. (slang) The vulva.
   • 1981, William Kotzwinkle, Jack in the Box:

     "Yeah, take it off!" "SHOW US YOUR PIE!" The brunette opened the catch on her G-string and let the sequinned cloth slip down, teasing them with it.

   • 2010, W. A. Moltinghorne, Magnolia Park, page 238:

     Yeah, some guys like to eat the old hairy pie. Women, too, or so I've heard.

10. (slang) A kilogram of drugs, especially cocaine.
    • 1997 January 3, “Can't Nobody Hold Me Down”‎performed by Sean Combs ft. Mase:

      Did fed time outta town pie flipper / Turn Cristal into a crooked-I sipper

    • [1998 October 18, “Ebonics”‎performed by Big L:

      My weed smoke is my lye, a ki of coke is a pie / When I'm lifted I'm high, with new clothes on I'm fly]

    • 1999 July 13, “Discipline”‎performed by Gang Starr ft. Total:

      I love the cutie pies, never the zootie pies

pie (third-person singular simple present pies, present participle pieing, simple past and past participle pied)

1. (transitive) To hit in the face with a pie, either for comic effect or as a means of protest (see also pieing).

   I'd like to see someone pie the chairman of the board.

2. (transitive) To go around (a corner) in a guarded manner.
3. (transitive, UK, slang, often followed by off) To ignore (someone).
   • 2017, Marcel Somerville, Dr Marcel's Little Book of Big Love: Your Guide to Finding Love, the Island Way, London: Blink Publishing, →ISBN, page 50:

     Some of my friends drop everyone out as soon as they get a girlfriend, and they alienate people. Or they stop going out to the gym and doing things they love because they're all about the other person. When you do that you're sacrificing yourself and you will be left with nothing if you split up. You'll have to start again and get back in contact with all your mates you've pied off. Shame.

   • 2018 September 18, @_kirstenanna, Twitter‎, archived from the original on 27 January 2024:

     just my luck been put in a presentation group at uni with a guy I pied on tinder last week HAHA gud

From Middle English pye, from Old French pie, from Latin pīca, feminine of pīcus (“woodpecker”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peyk- (“woodpecker; magpie”). Cognate with speight. Doublet of pica.

pie (plural pies)

1. (obsolete) Magpie.

• piebald
• pied
• sea pie

From Hindi पाई (pāī, “quarter”), from Sanskrit पादिका (pādikā).

pie (plural pie or pies)

1. (historical) The smallest unit of currency in South Asia, equivalent to ¹⁄₁₉₂ of a rupee or ¹⁄₁₂ of an anna.
   • 1888, Rudyard Kipling, “The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes”, in The Phantom ’Rickshaw and Other Tales, Folio Society, published 2005, page 117:

     I gave him all the money in my possession, Rs.9.8.5. – nine rupees, eight annas, and five pie – for I always keep small change as bakshish when I am in camp.

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

pie (plural pies)

1. (zoology) Ellipsis of pie-dog: an Indian breed, a stray dog in Indian contexts.

From Spanish pie (“foot, Spanish foot”), from Latin pēs (“foot, Roman foot”), from Proto-Indo-European *pṓds. Doublet of foot, pes, and pous.

pie (plural pies)

1. (historical) A traditional Spanish unit of length, equivalent to about 27.9 cm.

   Synonym: foot (in Spanish contexts)

• punto (¹⁄₁₇₂₈ pie), linea (¹⁄₁₄₄ pie), pulgada (¹⁄₁₂ pie), coto (³⁄₈ pie), sesma (¹⁄₂ pie), palmo (³⁄₄ pie), codo (1+¹⁄₂ pies), vara (3 pies), paso (5 pies), estado, braza, or toesa (6 pies), estadal (12 pies), cordel (150 pies), milla (5,000 pies), legua (15,000 pies)

pie

1. (letterpress typography) Alternative form of pi (“metal type that has been spilled, mixed together, or disordered”)

pie (third-person singular simple present pies, present participle pieing, simple past and past participle pied)

1. (transitive) Alternative form of pi (“to spill or mix printing type”)
   • 1943, Esther Forbes Hoskins, Johnny Tremain:

     The door of the [printing] shop was shattered. He went in. The presses were broken. The type pied.

• Jonathon Green (2024) “pie n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang
• “pie”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.

• EIP, EPI, Epi, IEP, P.E.I., PEI, Pei, epi, epi-, ipe, ipé

From Latin pes, pedem.

pie m (plural pies)

1. foot

• peón

• IPA^(key): [ˈpie]
• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ie
• Hyphenation: pi‧e

pie

1. piously
   • 1922, Ivan H. Krestanoff (tr.), “En la tombejo”, in Nuntempaj Rakontoj‎, Leipzig: Ferdinand Hirt & Sohn, translation of original by G. P. Stamatov, page 15:

     Nadja pie stariĝis apud la kruco.

     Nadia piously stood next to the cross.

Inherited from Old French pie, from Latin pīca (“magpie”), feminine of pīcus (“woodpecker”).

• IPA^(key): /pi/

• audio

  (file)

• Homophones: pi, pies, pis

une pie

pie f (plural pies)

1. magpie

• bavard comme une pie
• fromage à la pie
• pie bavarde

• “pie”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• épi, I.-P.-E., IPE, ipé

pie

1. (reintegrationist norm) inflection of piar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

pie f pl

1. feminine plural of pio

• epi-, pei

piē (comparative pius, superlative pissimē)

1. piously, devoutly
2. dutifully, loyally

pie

1. vocative masculine singular of pius

• “pie”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “pie”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• pie in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) to show an affectionate regard for a person's memory: memoriam alicuius pie inviolateque servare
    
  • (ambiguous) to be an earnest worshipper of the gods: deos sancte, pie venerari
    

pie (with genitive)

1. at

   es biju pie tēva ― I was at my father's

2. on

   māja pie jūras ― a house on the sea

3. to

   braukšu pie tevis ― I will go to your place

pie

1. Nonstandard spelling of piē.
2. Nonstandard spelling of piě.
3. Nonstandard spelling of piè.

• Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

From Medieval Latin pīca.

pie

1. Alternative form of pye (“pie”)

From Old French pie.

pie

1. Alternative form of pye (“magpie”)

From Old French pie, from Latin pica, feminine of picus (“woodpecker”).

• Audio (Jersey)

  (file)

pie f (plural pies)

1. (Jersey) female magpie
   • 1903, Edgar MacCulloch, “Proverbs, Weather Sayings, etc.”, in Guernsey Folk Lore‎, page 520:

     Vieille pie a plus d'un pertus à son nic.

     An old magpie has more than one hole in her nest.

• mèrgot

• (sex): piêté

• IPA^(key): /pi͜yː/

pīe f

1. Alternative form of pēo

From Latin pīca.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpi.ə/

pie oblique singular, f (oblique plural pies, nominative singular pie, nominative plural pies)

1. magpie

• → Middle English: pye
  • English: pie (archaic), magpie
  • → Welsh: piod pl, pioden sg
• French: pie
• Norman: pie (Jersey)

From Latin pedem, singular accusative of pēs, from Proto-Indo-European *pṓds.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpje/

pie m (plural pies)

1. (anatomy) foot
   • c. 1200, Almerich, Fazienda de Ultramar, f. 28r:

     Vinierõ al flũ con el arca del teſtamẽt e q̃ndo cataron los pies de los ſac̃dotes enel agua partierõ ſe las aguas adieſtro ⁊ aſinieſtro e eſtidierõ cuemo mõtõ […]

     They came to the river with the Ark of the Testimony, and when the feet of the priests touched the water the waters parted to the right and to the left, and they stood up like a heap […]

2. foot; the base of a mountain
   • c. 1200, Almerich, Fazienda de Ultramar, f. 18r:

     Aduxo moẏſẽ el pueblo del albergada. Al encuẽtro del nr̃o sẽnor e eſtidierõ al pie del mõt en mõte sẏnaẏ.

     Moses led the people from the camp to meet Our Lord, and they stood at the foot of the mountain, Mount Sinai.

• Ladino: pye
• Spanish: pie

pie

1. inflection of piar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

• (Dundee) peh
• py, pye

From Middle English pye

pie (plural pies)

1. pie (particularly savoury)

Inherited from Old Spanish pie, from Latin pedem.

Cognate with Asturian pie, Galician and Portuguese pé, and Catalan peu. As an English unit, a calque of English foot.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpje/ [ˈpje]
• Rhymes: -e
• Syllabification: pie

pie m (plural pies)

1. foot (a part of the body)

   Synonym: (of an animal) pata

2. English or American foot (a unit of length equal to 30.48 cm)
3. (historical, measure) pie, a Spanish foot (a former unit of length equivalent to about 27.9 cm)

   Synonym: tercia

4. (poetry) foot (a part of a poetic line)
5. (design, typography) footer (the bottom of a page or design)

• pié (obsolete)

• (English unit of length): pulgada (¹⁄₁₂ pie), yarda (3 pies), milla (5,280 pies)
• (Spanish unit of length): punto (¹⁄₁₇₂₈ pie), línea (¹⁄₁₄₄ pie), pulgada (¹⁄₁₂ pie), coto (³⁄₈ pie), sesma (¹⁄₂ pie), palmo (³⁄₄ pie), codo (1+¹⁄₂ pies), vara (3 pies), paso (5 pies), estado, braza, or toesa (6 pies), estadal (12 pies), cordel (150 pies), milla (5,000 pies), legua (15,000 pies)

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpje/ [ˈpje], /piˈe/ [piˈe]
• Rhymes: -e
• Syllabification: pie, pi‧e

pie

1. first-person singular preterite indicative of piar

• pié (superseded)

Unadapted borrowing from English pie.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpai/ [ˈpai̯]
• Rhymes: -ai

pie m (plural pies)

1. (Central America, South America) pie

• Spanish-speaking Central and South Americans use the English loanword pie to refer to certain kinds of pies but not all kinds of pies. Some types of pies are referred to as tarta. It very much depends on the region for which term to use. Tarta is much more frequent, however.

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

• pay (Mexico)

• “pie”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014