pie

¹ American  

[pahy] / paɪ /

noun

1. a baked food having a filling of fruit, meat, pudding, etc., prepared in a pastry-lined pan or dish and often topped with a pastry crust.

   apple pie; meat pie.

2. a layer cake with a filling of custard, cream jelly, or the like.

   chocolate cream pie.

3. a total or whole that can be divided.

   They want a bigger part of the profit pie.

4. an activity or affair.

   He has his finger in the political pie too.

5. pizza.

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idioms

1. pie in the sky,

   1. the illusory prospect of future benefits.

      Political promises are often pie in the sky.

   2. a state of perfect happiness; utopia.

      to promise pie in the sky.

2. easy as pie, extremely easy or simple.

3. nice as pie, extremely well-behaved, agreeable, or the like.

   The children were nice as pie.

pie ² American  

[pahy] / paɪ /

noun

1. magpie.

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pie ³ American  

[pahy] / paɪ /

noun

pied, pieing

1. a spelling variant of pi.

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pie ⁴ American  

[pahy] / paɪ /

Or pye

noun

1. (in England before the Reformation) a book of ecclesiastical rules for finding the particulars of the service for the day.

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pie ⁵ American  

[pahy] / paɪ /

noun

1. a former bronze coin of India, the 12th part of an anna.

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PIE ⁶ American  

abbreviation

1. Proto-Indo-European.

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pie ¹ British  

/ paɪ /

noun

1. a baked food consisting of a sweet or savoury filling in a pastry-lined dish, often covered with a pastry crust

2. 1. to have an interest in or take part in some activity

   2. to meddle or interfere

3. illusory hope or promise of some future good; false optimism

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pie ² British  

/ paɪ /

noun

1. an archaic or dialect name for magpie

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pie ³ British  

/ paɪ /

noun

1. printing a variant spelling of pi 2

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pie ⁴ British  

/ paɪ /

noun

1. a very small former Indian coin worth one third of a pice

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pie ⁵ British  

/ paɪ /

noun

1. history a book for finding the Church service for any particular day

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pie ⁶ British  

/ paɪ /

adjective

1. informal to be keen on

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pie More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing pie

• apple-pie order
• easy as pie
• eat crow (humble pie)
• finger in the pie
• slice of the pie

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Other Word Forms

• pielike adjective

Etymology

Origin of pie¹

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English pi(e), pey; of obscure origin

Origin of pie²

First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English pi(e), peie, from Old French, from Latin pīca, akin to pīcus “woodpecker”

Origin of pie⁴

First recorded in 1470–80; translation of Latin pīca “magpie”; (the allusion is obscure); cf. pica ¹, pie ²

Origin of pie⁵

First recorded in 1855–60; from Hindi pāī “quarter, fourth part,” from Sanskrit pādikā; cf. pada ( def. ); see also pice ( def. )

Explanation

A pie is a baked dessert with a pastry crust. If your favorite kind of pie is apple, you might order it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. Most pie is sweet, but there are also meat and vegetable pies, often called "pot pies." Like dessert pies, these savory dishes are often topped with pastry. Other pies have a bottom crust and an open top, while some have both a top and bottom pastry crust. If something is described as "easy as pie," it's very easy — though it's arguable whether it's really all that easy to make a pie.

Example Sentences

Returning to either tour requires eating a slice of humble pie and, for some, paying a fortune to sweeten the deal.

From BBC • Apr. 16, 2026

Along Main Street, the mingled scents of woodsmoke and apple pie drift from storefronts.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 7, 2026

And if you have room, get the sweet potato pie topped with berbere.

From Salon • Mar. 31, 2026

A lot of folks think that is pie in the sky.

From Barron's • Mar. 27, 2026

I remember coming into the kitchen one time and seeing Sookie and Mom sharing a whole pie, laughing about something I didn’t know anything about.

From "The Line Tender" by Kate Allen

Related Words

• cake
• candy
• confection
• cookie
• fruit
• ice cream
• pastry
• sweet