THE FIRST WORD

pi

PRONUNCIATION:

(py) 

MEANING:

noun:
1. A confused mixture, originally a jumble of printing types. Also spelled as pie.
2. The 16th letter of the Greek alphabet.
3. A mathematical constant (approximately 3.14159), representing the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter.

ETYMOLOGY:

For 1: Origin uncertain. Earliest documented use: 1659.
For 2, 3: From Greek pi/pei, of Semitic origin. Earliest documented use: 1425.

USAGE:

"The Indiana soldier's letter, however, 'has completely `knocked into pi` all the arguments [they have] employed.'"
Glenn David Brasher; Peninsula Campaign and the Necessity of Emancipation; The University of North Carolina Press; 2012.