Pyramids

How to spell pyramids

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce pyramids

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does pyramids mean?

1. nounMassive triangular stone monuments, or any solid figures with a square base and four sloping sides meeting at a point.

Pyramids in a sentence

• The ancient pyramids of Giza draw millions of tourists every year.

• The geometry class measured the volume of several small pyramids made from card.

Where does pyramids come from?

Language of origin: Greek

The singular pyramid comes from the Greek word pyramis, plural pyramides, which the Greeks used for the great stone monuments of Egypt. The Greek term itself was probably borrowed from an Egyptian word for the structures, although some early writers playfully linked it to pyros, meaning 'wheat', because of small wheat-flour cakes that shared the tapering shape. Latin took the word in as pyramis, and English picked it up in the late Middle Ages, with the modern spelling pyramid settling in by the 1500s. The unusual sequence of vowels, with a y where many writers expect an i and a single r, is the legacy of that Greek y (upsilon) passing through Latin. The plural simply adds -s to give pyramids, so the spelling trap stays in the stem rather than the ending.

How the word is built

• pyramid (from Greek pyramis: a pyramid-shaped structure)
• -s (plural)