Etymology

pyramid

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Today it means: An ancient massive construction with a square or rectangular base and four triangular sides meeting in an apex, such as those built as tombs in Egypt or as bases for temples in Mesoamerica. Full definition →

French pyramide ← Old French piramide ← Latin pȳramis, pȳramidis
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The story

  1. Egyptian · derived frompr-m-ws“height of a pyramid”
  2. Ancient Greek · derived fromπῡραμίς
  3. Latin · derived frompȳramis, pȳramidis
  4. Old French · derived frompiramide
  5. French · derived frompyramide
  6. English todaypyramid

From French pyramide, from Old French piramide, from Latin pȳramis, pȳramidis, from Ancient Greek πῡραμίς (pūramís), possibly from πῡρός (pūrós, “wheat”) + ἀμάω (amáō, “reap”) or from Egyptian pr-m-ws (“height of a pyramid”), from pr (“(one that) comes forth”) + m (“from”) + ws (“height”). Schenkel and K. Lang proposed hypothetical Coptic *ⲡⲓⲣⲁⲙ (*piram) or *ⲫⲣⲁⲙ (*phram) derived from Egyptian mr via metathesis as a source of πῡραμίς (pūramís) while Schenkel also suggested it being the source of Arabic هَرَم (haram) although the latter is considered far-fetched by Takacs.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.