# pie

> English word · Noun · IPA /paɪ/ · frequency rank #5,244

## Definitions
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.)
2. Any of various other, non-pastry dishes that maintain the general concept of a shell with a filling.
3. 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. The whole of a wealth or resource, to be divided in parts.
6. An especially badly bowled ball.
7. A pie chart.
8. Something very easy; a piece of cake.
9. The vulva.
10. A kilogram of drugs, especially cocaine.

## Etymology
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.

## Easily confused with
- **PM** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pie-vs-pm)
- **PP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pie-vs-pp)
- **PR** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pie-vs-pr)
- **pt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pie-vs-pt)
- **PS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pie-vs-ps)
- **po** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pie-vs-po)
- **PL** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pie-vs-pl)
- **PU** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pie-vs-pu)
- **PK** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pie-vs-pk)
- **PV** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pie-vs-pv)
- **PJ** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pie-vs-pj)
- **PW** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pie-vs-pw)
- **PX** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pie-vs-px)
- **put** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pie-vs-put)
- **pro** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pie-vs-pro)
- **pop** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pie-vs-pop)
- **pot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pie-vs-pot)
- **pin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pie-vs-pin)
- **pit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pie-vs-pit)
- **pub** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pie-vs-pub)

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/pie