Meanings
plural pyramid pianos
- A piano that has its strings slanting upward from left to right in a case that is shaped like a tall isosceles triangle.
The return of the pyramid piano dates from 1804 from the workshops of Wachtl and Bleyer, in Vienna. .
1968, Franz Josef Hirt, Stringed Keyboard Instruments, 1440-1880, page 1462 more examples
His known pieces include a pyramid piano in Vienna in the “Sammlung alter Musikinstrument", two grand pianos and this giraffe piano; they were all made in Bohemia.
2001, Jiri Rak, Guido Lagomarsino, Biedermeier: Art and Culture in Central Europe, 1815-1848, page 178Upstairs there was a pyramid piano — an instrument of peculiar shape and height, like a concert piano turned up against the wall.
2020, Sophy Roberts, The Lost Pianos of Siberia, page 87
Origin
From the shape of the instrument, which is roughly triangular, like a projection of a pyramid.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
pyramid piano. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pyramid%20piano
“pyramid piano.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pyramid%20piano. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pyramid piano,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pyramid%20piano.
Source: pyramid piano on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.