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pie

SayPYUK/paɪ//pɑɪ/

Pluralpies, pie

18 meanings of pie

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  1. 1
    pastry dishnouncountable or uncountable
    A baked dish of a filling, sweet or savory, enclosed in or topped with pastry or another crust such as mashed potato.

    They ate leftover pumpkin pie for breakfast the morning after Thanksgiving.

    The bakery sells meat pies at lunch and fruit pies all afternoon.

    UsageAn apple pie for a whole one, but a slice of pie or some pie for a serving.

    Note

    The word calls up a different dish on each side of the Atlantic. Savory pies such as steak and kidney are the more popular kind in Britain, sweet ones such as cherry in the United States, so a plain pie suggests dinner to a British reader and dessert to an American.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Savory pies predominate among popular British pie varieties. blog.betway.com
    • Sweet pies, including cherry, predominate among popular American pie varieties. en.wikipedia.org
  2. 2
    shared wholenounfigurativelycountable or uncountable
    The whole of a sum of wealth or a resource, seen as something to be divided into shares.

    As the city's budget shrinks, every department is fighting over a smaller pie.

    Instead of arguing over shares, the partners focused on growing the pie.

    UsageCommon in a piece of the pie, a slice of the pie, grow the pie.

    Note

    Evan Thomas, writing in Newsweek in 2010, shows the darker side: when the pie is shrinking, social groups are more likely to turn on each other.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Evan Thomas wrote the cited Newsweek passage in 2010. en.wiktionary.org
    • Thomas wrote that social groups are more likely to turn on each other when the metaphorical pie shrinks. en.wiktionary.org
  3. 3
    pizzanoundialectalNortheasternUScountable or uncountable
    A pizza, especially a whole one as ordered or served.

    The pizzeria on the corner sells a plain cheese pie for twelve dollars.

    Order two pies for the office party, one plain and one with sausage.

    UsageOften a large pie or a plain pie. Elsewhere, pizza is clearer.

    Similarpizza

    Note

    In the northeastern United States a pizza is often simply a pie: people order a large pie or split a pie with friends.

  4. 4
    chartnouncountable or uncountable
    A circular chart divided into wedges that show how a total is split into parts, also called a pie chart.

    The slide showed a pie with one wedge for each department's share of the budget.

    Analysts often avoid pies when a dataset has more than a handful of categories.

    Note

    Carolyn Sorensen and Henry J. Stock's Department of Education Computer Graphics Guide (1986) puts its advice in that short form: pies are best for comparing the components of only one or two totals.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Carolyn Sorensen and Henry J. Stock prepared Department of Education Computer Graphics Guide. catalog.hathitrust.org
    • The guide was published in 1986. govinfo.gov
    • The guide uses 'pies' and advises using them to compare the components of only one or two totals. en.wiktionary.org
  5. 5
    face-smash platenouncountable or uncountable
    A paper plate covered in whipped cream, shaving cream, or custard that is thrown or rubbed into someone's face for laughs, to raise money for charity, or in protest.

    For every hundred dollars raised, the principal agreed to take a pie in the face.

    A protester rushed the stage and pushed a pie into the senator's face.

    UsageUsually a pie in the face.

  6. 6
    easy tasknouncolloquialcountable or uncountable
    Something that is very easy to do or deal with.
    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.
    1989, PC Mag, number 5

    UsageMost often easy as pie. Alone it takes no a: the test was pie.

    Similarcinch, breeze, doddle, snap

    Note

    This sense usually follows be, often with a to-infinitive: PC Mag in 1989 mocked the claim that Windows code would be pie to translate.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • PC Mag in 1989 criticized the claim that Microsoft Windows code would be easy to translate, using the words 'would be pie to translate'. en.wiktionary.org

More uses

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Origins

Meanings 1–10

From Middle English pye, pie, pey, possibly attested earlier in the surname Piehus ("pie-house?") c. 1199; its further origin is uncertain. Some sources derive it from Latin pīca ("magpie, jay"), likening a pie's many ingredients to the variety of objects magpies bring back to their nests, though this is controversial; if so, it is a doublet of pica.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 8 facts

  • Pie comes from Middle English pye, pie, pey. en.wiktionary.org
  • The surname Piehus, possibly meaning 'pie-house', may attest the word around 1199. en.wiktionary.org
  • The word's further origin, including the proposed magpie connection, remains uncertain. en.wiktionary.org
  • A proposed derivation connects the pastry word ultimately with Latin pīca. en.wiktionary.org
  • Latin pīca means 'magpie' or 'jay'. en.wiktionary.org
  • The proposed connection compares mixed pie ingredients with miscellaneous objects collected by magpies. en.wikipedia.org
  • The proposed derivation is uncertain rather than established. en.wiktionary.org
  • If pastry pie derives from Latin pīca through the bird name, it is a doublet of English pica. en.wiktionary.org
Meaning 11

Latin pīcus meant "woodpecker," and its feminine pīca passed through Old French pie into Middle English pye. The root is Proto-Indo-European *(s)peyk- ("woodpecker, magpie"). Speight is a cognate, and pica is a doublet.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts