pyramid English · revision 39892

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=before 1398, J. Trevisa|origins=grc πυραμίς}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈpɪɹ.ə.mɪd/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|pȳramis|t=pyramid]] (stem [[m|la|pȳramid-]]), partly through [[m|fr|pyramide]],^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2024)^(Hoad 1986) recorded in Old French about 1160.^(OED 2026)^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) The Latin word is [[der|grc|πυραμίς|tr=pūramís]],^(OED 2026)^(AHD 2024)^(Klein 1966) whose further origin is unknown.^(OED 2026)^(AHD 2024)^(ODE 2010) Etymonline and Barnhart, after older sources, take it as an alteration of an Egyptian word for a pyramid,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) and Collins and Ayto think an Egyptian source likely;^(Collins 2023)^(Ayto 2005) but the OED finds a proposed Egyptian source meaning "height of a pyramid" doubtful,^(OED 2026) and the Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins says an Egyptian origin is now generally rejected.^(Cresswell 2021) Some ancient writers derived it from [[m|grc|πῦρ|tr=pûr|t=fire]], for its pointed shape, and others from [[m|grc|πυρός|tr=purós|t=wheat]], as if a granary;^(OED 2026) Johnson (1755) followed the first view.^(Johnson 1755) Greek ''pūramís'' also named a cake made with wheat, which does come from ''purós'', and the monuments have been said to be named after it, but the shape of the cake is unknown.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In geometry, a solid with a polygonal base and triangular sides meeting at a point: before 1398, in John Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus,^(OED 2026)^(ODE 2010)^(Cresswell 2021) in the Latin form ''piramis''.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) The English singular ''Pyramides'' appears in 1549,^(Barnhart 1995)^(MWU 2024) and the modern form ''pyramid'' became established during the 17th century.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Before 1500 the word was used of a building or monument with sloping sides meeting at the top, especially the royal tombs of ancient Egypt,^(OED 2026) while from 1552 English writers used the Latin plural ''pyramides''.^(Barnhart 1995) It was applied to spires, pinnacles and obelisks in architecture by 1552,^(OED 2026) to any object or pile of that shape from 1570,^(OED 2026) to trees pruned to a cone (1703), to pyramid-shaped parts of the body (1703) and to the faces of a crystal (1748).^(OED 2026) Elyot (1545) glossed Latin ''pyramidatus'' as "made steeple-wise, broad beneath and small and sharp upward".^(Etymonline) The verb, to arrange in a pyramid, is dated to 1654 by Merriam-Webster and to before 1666 by the OED.^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026) Financial uses began in the United States: the verb, to reinvest profits on margin, in 1888,^(OED 2026) with Barnhart dating it from 1901,^(Barnhart 1988) and further financial senses by 1911.^(Etymonline) Ayto suggests that [[pediment]] began as a garbling of this word.^(Ayto 2005)^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 1398 – ''piramis'', a geometrical solid.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * before 1500 – a monument with sloping sides.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1549 – ''Pyramides'' as a singular.^(Barnhart 1995)^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1570 – any object or pile of pyramid shape.^(OED 2026)

+ * before 1666 – verb, to arrange in a pyramid (1654 in Merriam-Webster).^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1748 – (crystallography) a set of faces meeting in a point.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1850 – (billiards) a game with balls set out in a triangle.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1888 – verb, (finance) to reinvest profits on margin.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A massive [[monument|alt=monumental]] structure with a square base and four [[triangular]] sides meeting at a point, especially one built as a royal [[tomb]] in ancient [[Egypt]].^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # (geometry) A [[solid]] figure with a [[polygon]] as its base and triangular faces that meet at a common [[vertex]].^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+ # An object or pile of things in this shape: ''a pyramid of tins in the shop window''.^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+ # An organization or system with many people or units at the bottom and fewer at each level above;^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024) (finance) a group of companies controlled through a chain of holding companies.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To arrange or pile up in the shape of a pyramid.^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+ # (finance) To build up holdings by using profits on existing ones as [[margin]] for further buying.^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[pyramidal]]

+ * [[pyramidally]]

+ * [[pyramidical]]

+ * [[pyramidlike]]

+ * [[bipyramid]]

+ * [[dipyramid]]

+ * [[pyramidology]]

+ * [[pyramid scheme]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[pediment]]

+ * [[obelisk]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}