pi

Pious.

Adjective media, publishing

  1. Not part of the usual font character set; especially, non-Roman type or symbols as opposed to standard alphanumeric Roman type.
    • In computing, pi characters may be entered with special key combinations.

Origin

Unclear. Possibly from the Greek letter (see Etymology 1) as a common example of non-alphabetic character, possibly from pica (“type size”) (see Etymology 3), possibly from pie referring to its mixed nature or pied (“checkered, multicoloured”).

Derived

pi character

Adjective Entry 2

  1. Pious.
    • Our Major was "Cherub" Cheeseman, noted for his foul language. I am afraid he lost a tidy little legacy that he was expecting from his aunt, the Dowager Lady Shuttlecock (a very "pi" old lady), through this same habit...
    • “Those are very 'pi' sentiments. Was a preacher in Staffordshire— I was raised chapel, though've tried to forget it—he talked that way... redemption and the lot.” - 1972, Anya Seton, Green Darkness, Hachette UK, →ISBN:
    • In Sense and Sensibility, as even you might agree, there's at least the danger of a rather pi moral framework clamping down on the spontaneous fun and leaving the sisters to survive - a bit drearily - on the periphery...

Origin

Abbreviations.

Related

pica stick cicero pi sai

Derived

pi-jaw

Noun media, publishing

  1. pica (conventionally, 12 points = 1 pica, 6 picas = 1 inch).
  2. Piaster.

Noun Entry 4

  1. The sixteenth letter of the Classical and Modern Greek alphabets and the seventeenth in Old Greek.

    Related: grc:π

  2. An irrational and transcendental constant representing the ratio of the circumference of a Euclidean circle to its diameter; approximately 3.14159265.

    Synonyms: Archimedes' constant Ludolphian number Ludolph's constant Ludolph's number

    Related: mul:π

Origin

From Koine Greek πῖ (pî), from Ancient Greek πεῖ (peî), ultimately from Proto-Semitic *pay- (“mouth”). Doublet of pe. Its mathematical use apparently stems from its use as the first letter in περιφέρεια (periphéreia, “periphery; circumference”) and was first cited in 1706 in the Synopsis Palmariorum Matheseos by William Jones.

Forms

pis

Derived

pi bond piem pi font pi-heptomino pilish pi meson pi-minus pion piphilology pi-plus pi-system pith

Noun letterpress typography, media

  1. Metal type that has been spilled, mixed together, or disordered.

    Related: pie

Forms

pis

Verb

  1. To spill or mix printing type.

    Related: pie

Forms

pies piing pied