pi

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   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.

2. 2
   adj

   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 of his.

3. 3
   name

   Initialism of Philippine Islands.

   We're going back to the PI for a vacation this summer.

4. 4
   name

   A county of Chengdu, Sichuan, China.

   Pi County has brought democracy into full play. The peasants there are electing production team leaders and other production team cadres by secret ballot.

5. 5
   noun

   someone who can be employed as a detective to collect information

6. 6
   noun

   the 16th letter of the Greek alphabet

7. 7
   noun

   the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle

8. 8
   noun

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

Etymology

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.