pia

P3I1A1

noun

The pia mater, the innermost of the meninges that protect the brain and spinal cord.

Similar
Indian arrowrootTacca leontopetaloidesTacca pinnatifida
Less commonScrabble 5

Meanings

pia1

noun
  1. anatomyThe pia mater, the innermost of the meninges that protect the brain and spinal cord.

    One screen in the theatre relays live colour pictures of Harkness and his colleague Tiernan Byrnes's progress, cutting and pushing through first the dura, then the arachnoid and finally the pia, the thin, spider's web-type membranes that cover the brain itself.

    2009 January 25, Denis Campbell, “Kian, 4, needs a miracle. He's in the right place”, in The Observer

pia2

nounpia (uncountable)
  1. uncountablePolynesian arrowroot (Tacca leontopetaloides), whose fleshy tubers yield arrowroot starch.

PIA3

proper noun
  1. abbreviationinitialismhuman sciencesInitialism of Proto-Indo-Aryan.
nounPIA (countable and uncountable, plural PIAs)

plural PIAs

  1. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountablemedicineInitialism of porcine intestinal adenomatosis.
  2. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountableInitialism of personal injury accident.
  3. InternetabbreviationcountableinitialismuncountableInitialism of pain in the ass.
  4. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountablelifestyleInitialism of penis in anus.
  5. abbreviationcountableinitialismuncountableInitialism of privacy impact assessment.

Pia4

proper noun
  1. A female given name from Latin.

Pia5

proper noun
  1. A town and commune of Pyrénées-Orientales department, Occitania, France, historically part of Northern Catalonia.

Synonyms & antonyms

nounperennial herb of East Indies to Polynesia and Australia; cultivated for its large edible root yielding Otaheite arrowroot starch

Similar
Indian arrowrootTacca leontopetaloidesTacca pinnatifida
Broader
herbherbaceous plant

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Malayo-Polynesian*ʀambia
  2. Proto-Oceanic*ʀabia
  3. Proto-Polynesian*pia
  4. Hawaiianpia
  5. Englishpia

Borrowed from Hawaiian pia.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

pia. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pia

MLA

“pia.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pia. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pia,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pia.

Source: pia on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.