piece
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
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5 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "piece", 5-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "piece" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "piece" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
piece is aEnglishnoun. It means: A part of a larger whole, usually in such a form that it is able to be separated from other parts. Pronounced /piːs/. It ranks #975 in English word frequency. Often confused with pipe and pile.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | piece |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /piːs/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #975 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for piece is 5 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /piːs/. Corpus data places it at rank #975 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 21 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 6 documented wrong-spelling variants for piece, with forms such as "ipece", "peice", and "picee". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "pipe", "pile", "pine", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English pece, peece, peice, from Old French piece, from Late Latin petia, pettia, possibly from Gaulish *pettyā, from Proto-Celtic *kʷezdis (“piece, portion, quota”). Compare Welsh peth, Breton pez (“thing”), Irish cuid. Compare French pièce, Po… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is piece, spelled P-I-E-C-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1A part of a larger whole, usually in such a form that it is able to be separated from other parts.
- 2A single item belonging to a class of similar items.
- 3One of the figures used in playing chess, specifically a higher-value figure as distinguished from a pawn; (by extension) those with which draughts, backgammon, and other similar board games are played.
- 4A coin, especially one valued at less than the principal unit of currency.
- 5An artistic creation, such as a painting, sculpture, musical composition, literary work, etc.
- 6An article published in the press.
- 7An artillery gun.
- 8A gun.
- 9A toupee or wig, especially when worn by a man.
- 10A slice or other quantity of bread, eaten on its own; a sandwich or light snack.
- 11A sexual encounter; from piece of ass or piece of tail.
- 12A shoddy or worthless object (usually applied to consumer products like vehicles or appliances).
- 13A cannabis pipe.
- 14Used to describe a pitch that has been hit but not well, usually either being caught by the opposing team or going foul. Usually used in the past tense with get.
- 15An individual; a person.
- 16A castle; a fortified building.
- 17A pacifier; a dummy.
- 18A distance.
- 19A structured practice row, often used for performance evaluation.
- 20An amount of work to be done at one time; a unit of piece work.
- 21An ounce of a recreational drug.
Etymology
From Middle English pece, peece, peice, from Old French piece, from Late Latin petia, pettia, possibly from Gaulish *pettyā, from Proto-Celtic *kʷezdis (“piece, portion, quota”). Compare Welsh peth, Breton pez (“thing”), Irish cuid. Compare French pièce, Portuguese peça, Spanish pieza, Italian pezza, Italian pezzo.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ipece,peice,picee,piecce,pieec,ppiece
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for piece
Misspelling Variants of "piece"
Frequency rank: #975 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter P in our English index: