pyramid
pronunciation
How to pronounce pyramid in British English:
UK [ˈpɪrəmɪd]
How to pronounce pyramid in American English:
US [ˈpɪrəmɪd]
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- Noun:
- a polyhedron having a polygonal base and triangular sides with a common vertex
- (stock market) a series of transactions in which the speculator increases his holdings by using the rising market value of those holdings as margin for further purchases
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- Verb:
- enlarge one's holdings on an exchange on a continued rise by using paper profits as margin to buy additional amounts
- use or deal in (as of stock or commercial transaction) in a pyramid deal
- arrange or build up as if on the base of a pyramid
- increase rapidly and progressively step by step on a broad base
Word Origin
- pyramid
- pyramid: [16] Egypt seems a likely ultimate source for pyramid, but its earliest known ancestor is Greek puramís, which passed into English via Latin pyramis. Pediment ‘triangular gable’ [17] probably originated as a garbling of pyramid, later influenced by ped-, the stem of Latin pēs ‘foot’.=> pediment
- pyramid (n.)
- 1550s (earlier in Latin form piramis, late 14c.), from French pyramide (Old French piramide "obelisk, stela," 12c.), from Latin pyramides, plural of pyramis "one of the pyramids of Egypt," from Greek pyramis (plural pyramides) "a pyramid," apparently an alteration of Egyptian pimar "pyramid." Financial sense is from 1911. Related: Pyramidal.
Example
- 1. Eating forms the foundational level of maslow 's pyramid .
- 2. In the end the pyramid collapses .
- 3. We call it an inverted pyramid .
- 4. Mounds were pyramid shaped with truncated tops .
- 5. The inverted pyramid and more orthodox governance coexist .