When you say 'pyramid' are you speaking Greek?

'Pyramid' is a word borrowed from Greek 'pyramis'. The word entered the English language some time around 1549.

pyramid [noun] [1549]

• an ancient massive structure found especially in Egypt having typically a square ground plan, outside walls in the form...
• a structure or object of similar form
• a polyhedron having for its base a polygon and for faces triangles with a common vertex
• a crystalline form each face of which intersects the vertical axis and either two lateral axes or in the tetragonal sys...

See 'pyramid' on the Loan Words Map

See more loan words from Greek.

Etymology: Latin 'pyramid-, pyramis' from Greek

See more loan words from 1500s.