pier

See also: Pier and píer

English

Etymology

Night scene of a pier (sense 1), Central Piers, Hong Kong

A pleasure pier (sense 2) at Blackpool

A pier (sense 5) at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol

Inherited from Middle English pere (“bridge pillar, breakwater”), borrowed from either Anglo-Norman pere (“stone”, from Latin petra) or Old French *piere (Old Northern French pire, from either Late Latin *petricus or pēra "satchel"); compare Medieval Latin pira.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pɪə/
• (Standard Southern British) IPA^(key): /pɪː/, /pɪjə/
• (General American) enPR: pîr, IPA^(key): /pɪɹ/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /piɾ/
• (East Anglia, cheer–chair merger) IPA^(key): /pɛː/
• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)
• Homophones: peer; pair, pare, pear (all cheer–chair merger)

Noun

pier (plural piers)

1. A raised platform built from the shore out over water, supported on piles; used to secure, or provide access to shipping; a jetty.

   Your boat is docked at the pier.

2. A similar structure, especially at a seaside resort, used to provide entertainment.

   There is a gaming arcade on the pier.

   • 1992, Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash, page 234:

     A fresh breeze comes off the water and down the pier.

   • 2023 March 22, Paul Clifton, “Network News: Island Line to reopen to Ryde Pier in June... possibly”, in RAIL, number 979, page 24:

     Ryde Pier's claim to fame is being the world's oldest seaside pleasure pier, with construction starting in 1813.

3. A structure supporting the junction between two spans of a bridge.
   • 1961 January, “Talking of Trains: The Severn Bridge disaster”, in Trains Illustrated, page 5:

     The force of the explosion demolished one pair of piers and two spans of the bridge crashed down into the river on top of the barges.

5. (architecture) A rectangular pillar, or similar structure, that supports an arch, wall or roof, or the hinges of a gate.

   Coordinate term: pile

6. (aviation) A long corridor-like building with multiple gates extending from an airport terminal.
   • 2019 April 2, “Manchester Airport opens new pier at Terminal 2”, in Airport Technology‎^[1]:

     The new £216m pier will be used by all airlines currently operating out of T2, with more and more flights gradually moving over to the new pier once it becomes fully operational.

Derived terms

• abutment pier
• Brighton pier
• chain pier
• end-of-pier
• end-of-the-pier
• finger pier
• gatepier
• pierage
• piered
• pier glass
• pierhead
• pierless
• pierlike
• piermaster
• pier runner
• pierside
• pier table
• pierwise
• rocking pier
• take a long walk off a short pier
• take a long walk on a short pier
• you don't fish off the company pier

Translations

raised platform built from the shore out over water

• Arabic: رَصِيف m (raṣīf)
• Armenian: պիրս (pirs), կառանացից (hy) (kaṙanacʻicʻ)
• Asturian: cai (ast) m, muelle (ast) m
• Azerbaijani: iskele, pirs
• Belarusian: пры́стань f (prýstanʹ), пірс m (pirs)
• Bengali: জেটি (bn) (jeṭi)
• Bulgarian: при́стан (bg) m (prístan), кей (bg) m (kej)
• Burmese: ဆိပ် (my) (hcip)
• Catalan: moll (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 碼頭 / 码头 (zh) (mǎtóu)

• Czech: molo (cs) n
• Danish: mole (da) c
• Dutch: pier (nl) m
• Esperanto: piero
• Estonian: kai (et)
• Finnish: laituri (fi)
• French: jetée (fr) f
• Galician: peirao (gl) m, peirau m
• Georgian: პირსი (ṗirsi), ნავმისადგომი (ka) (navmisadgomi)
• German: Seebrücke (de) f, Anlegestelle (de) f, Kai (de) m
• Greek: αποβάθρα (el) f (apováthra), μώλος (el) m (mólos), προβλήτα (el) f (provlíta)
• Hebrew: מֵזַח (he) m (mézakh)
• Hindi: घाट (hi) m (ghāṭ)
• Hungarian: móló (hu)
• Icelandic: bryggja (is) f
• Irish: cé f
• Italian: pontile (it) m, imbarcadero (it) m, molo (it) m
• Japanese: 桟橋 (ja) (さんばし, sanbashi), 波止場 (ja) (はとば, hatoba), 埠頭 (ja) (ふとう, futō)
• Kalmyk: пирстн (pirstn)
• Kazakh: пирс (pıyrs)
• Khmer: តីរវិថី (km) (təyraʔviʔtʰəy)
• Korean: 교각 (ko) (gyogak), 부두 (ko) (budu)
• Kyrgyz: пирс (pirs)
• Lao: ທ່າ (thā)
• Latin: mōlēs f
• Latvian: piestātne f, mols m
• Ligurian: meu m
• Lithuanian: molas m, pirsas (lt) m
• Macedonian: при́стан m (prístan), мост (mk) m (most)
• Norman: cauchie f (Guernsey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: brygge (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: brygge f, bryggje f

• Persian: اسکله (fa) (eskele)
• Polish: pomost (pl) m, molo (pl) n
• Portuguese: píer (pt) m, cais (pt) m, trapiche (pt) m (Brazil)
• Russian: при́стань (ru) f (prístanʹ), пирс (ru) m (pirs), прича́л (ru) m (pričál), мол (ru) m (mol)
• Scottish Gaelic: laimrig f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: пристаниште n

  Latin: pristanište (sh) n

• Slovak: mólo n
• Spanish: muelle (es) m, embarcadero (es) m, malecón (es) m
• Swedish: brygga (sv) c, pir (sv)
• Tagalog: piyer
• Tajik: бандар (bandar), искала (iskala)
• Thai: ท่า (th) (tâa)
• Tibetan: རླབས་རགས (rlabs rags)
• Turkish: iskele (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: اسكله (iskele), ریختم (rıhtım)

• Ukrainian: при́стань f (prýstanʹ), пірс (uk) m (pirs)
• Urdu: گھاٹ m (ghāṭ)
• Uzbek: pirs (uz), pristan (uz), iskala
• Vietnamese: bến tàu (vi)
• Walloon: djetêye (wa) f
• Welsh: pier (cy) m
• Yiddish: דאָק m (dok), מאָל m (mol)

similar structure used to provide entertainment

• Dutch: pier (nl) m
• Finnish: laituri (fi)
• French: jetée (fr) f
• Japanese: 桟橋 (ja) (さんばし, sanbashi)
• Polish: molo (pl) n
• Swedish: brygga (sv)
• Welsh: pier (cy) m

structure used to accommodate ships

• Bulgarian: пристан (bg) m (pristan)
• Finnish: laituri (fi)
• French: ponton (fr) m
• German: Steg (de) m, Bootssteg (de) m
• Polish: pirs (pl) m
• Scottish Gaelic: laimrig f
• Swedish: pir (sv), brygga (sv)

structure supporting the junction between two spans of a bridge

• Bulgarian: опора (bg) f (opora)
• Czech: pilíř (cs) m
• Dutch: pijler (nl) m, pyloon (nl) m
• Esperanto: piero
• Finnish: pilari (fi)
• French: pile (fr) f
• German: Brückenpfeiler (de) m
• Italian: pilastro (it) m, pontile (it) m
• Japanese: 橋脚 (ja) (きょうきゃく, kyōkyaku)
• Korean: 교각 (ko) (gyogak)
• Norwegian: brupilar
• Polish: filar (pl) m
• Portuguese: pilar (pt) m
• Russian: сва́я (ru) f (svája), бык (ru) m (byk)
• Spanish: pilar (de puente) m
• Swedish: bropelare c
• Tibetan: ཟམ་པའོ་ཀ་བ (zam pa'o ka ba), ཟམ་པའི་རྐང་པ (zam pa'i rkang pa), ཟམ་པའི་ལྗིད་ལེན (zam pa'i ljid len)
• Ukrainian: бик (uk) m (byk)
• Walloon: pilasse (wa) f, pilé (wa) m

rectangular pillar, or similar structure, that supports an arch, wall or roof

• Bulgarian: коло́на (bg) f (kolóna), стълб (bg) m (stălb)
• Dutch: zuil (nl) m, pijler (nl) m, pilaar (nl) m
• Finnish: pilari (fi)
• French: pilier (fr) m
• German: Pfeiler (de) m
• Irish: piara m
• Italian: pilastro (it) m
• Japanese: 柱 (ja) (はしら, hashira)
• Kazakh: бағана (bağana)
• Korean: 교각 (ko) (gyogak)
• Polish: filar (pl) m
• Portuguese: pilastra (pt) f
• Russian: столб (ru) m (stolb), просте́нок (ru) m (prosténok)
• Spanish: pilar (es) m
• Swedish: pelare (sv)
• Tibetan: སྐྱོར་རྩིག (skyor rtsig)
• Walloon: pilé (wa) m, pilasse (wa) f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Georgian: ^{(please verify)} ბურჯი (burǯi)
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 교각 (ko) (gyogak)

See also

• jetty
• mole
• wharf

Anagrams

• Peri, peri, peri-, prie, ripe

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ir

• Audio:

  (file)

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch pier, probably from the name Pierre.

Noun

pier m (plural pieren, diminutive piertje n)

1. (zoology) a worm, earthworm

Derived terms

• dood als een pier
• wadpier
• zeepier

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English pier.

Noun

pier m (plural pieren, diminutive piertje n)

1. (architecture) a pier, jetty

Derived terms

• wandelpier

Descendants

• → Papiamentu: pir

Etymology 3

Unknown.

Alternative forms

• piere (obsolete)

Noun

pier m (plural pieren, diminutive piertje n) (East and West Flanders)

1. (archaic) a physical trap
2. (archaic) a figurative trap, ambush
3. (archaic) a place one is trapped in:
   1. a prison
   2. a rabbit den

Derived terms

• pieren
• pierkoorde
• steenpier(e)
• vliegepier(e)

Verb

pier

1. inflection of pieren:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
   3. imperative

References

• M. J. Koenen & J. Endepols, Verklarend Handwoordenboek der Nederlandse Taal (tevens Vreemde-woordentolk), Groningen, Wolters-Noordhoff, 1969 (26th edition) [Dutch dictionary in Dutch]

Anagrams

• prei
• riep

Jamaican Creole

Etymology

Etymology tree

Vulgar Latin pirabor.

Proto-West Germanic *peru

Old English pere

Middle English pere

English pear

Jamaican Creole pier

Inherited from English pear.

Noun

pier (plural pier dem, quantified pier)

1. avocado, alligator pear

Further reading

• pier at majstro.com
• “A Learner’s Grammar of Jamaican”, in Open Grammar Project‎^[2], 2015, Glossary‎^[3]

Latin

Verb

pier

1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of piō

Middle English

Noun

pier

1. (MS. Fairfax 3, Oxfordshire) alternative form of per (“peer”)

Adjective

pier

1. (MS. Fairfax 3) alternative form of per (“equal”)

Romanian

Verb

pier

1. first-person singular present indicative/subjunctive of pieri

Romansh

Alternative forms

• biera (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran, Puter, Vallader)

Noun

pier f (plural piers)

1. (Sutsilvan) beer, ale

Synonyms

• gervosa

Slovak

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɪ̯er/, [ˈpɪ̯er]
• Rhymes: -ɪ̯er

Noun

pier

1. genitive plural of pero
2. genitive plural of pera