pier

See also: Pier and píer

English

Etymology

Night Scene of Pier 9, Central Piers, Hong Kong

A small pier at a campsite in Canada

From Middle English pere (“bridge pillar”), from Medieval Latin pera, from Old Northern French pira (“breakwater”), from Vulgar Latin *petricus, from Latin petra.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pɪə/
• (General American) enPR: pîr, IPA^(key): /piɹ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)
• Homophone: peer

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.
2. A similar structure, especially at a seaside resort, used to provide entertainment.
3. (US, nautical) A structure that projects tangentially from the shoreline to accommodate ships; often double-sided.
4. A structure supporting the junction between two spans of a bridge.
5. (architecture) A rectangular pillar, or similar structure, that supports an arch, wall or roof, or the hinges of a gate.

Derived terms

Derived terms

• abutment pier
• end-of-the-pier
• pier glass

• pierlike
• pier table

Translations

raised platform built from the shore out over water

• Arabic: رَصِيف‎ m (raṣīf)
• Armenian: պիրս (pirs), կառանացից (hy) (kaṙanacʿicʿ)
• Azerbaijani: iskele, pirs
• Belarusian: пры́стань f (prýstanʹ), пірс m (pirs)
• Bengali: জেটি (jeţi)
• Bulgarian: при́стан (bg) m (prístan), кей (bg) m (kej)
• Burmese: ဆိပ် (my) (hcip)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 碼頭 (zh), 码头 (zh) (mǎtóu)

• Czech: molo (cs) n
• Danish: mole (da) c
• Dutch: pier (nl) m
• Esperanto: piero
• Estonian: kai
• Finnish: laituri (fi)
• French: jetée (fr) f
• Georgian: პირსი (ṗirsi), ნავმისადგომი (ka) (navmisadgomi)
• German: Seebrücke (de) f, Anlegestelle (de) f, Kai (de) m
• Greek: μώλος (el) m (mólos), αποβάθρα (el) f (apováthra)
• Hebrew: מֵזַח‎ (he) m (mézakh)
• Hindi: घाट (hi) m (ghāṭ)
• Hungarian: móló (hu)
• Icelandic: bryggja f
• Irish: cé f
• Italian: pontile (it) m, imbarcadero (it) m, molo (it) m
• Japanese: 桟橋 (さんばし, sanbashi), 波止場 (はとば, hatoba), 埠頭 (ふとう, futō)
• Kalmyk: пирстн (pirstn)
• Kazakh: пирс (pïrs)
• 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: pirsas (lt) m
• Macedonian: при́стан m (prístan), мост m (most)
• Norman: cauchie f (Guernsey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: brygge m or f

  Nynorsk: brygge f, bryggje f

• Persian: اسکله‎ (fa) (eskele)
• Polish: pomost (pl) m, molo (pl) n, przystań (pl) f
• Portuguese: píer (pt) m, cais (pt) m
• 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

  Roman: pristanište (sh) n

• Slovak: mólo n
• Spanish: muelle (es) m, embarcadero m, malecón (es) m
• Swedish: brygga (sv) c, pir (sv)
• Tagalog: piyer
• Tajik: бандар (bandar), искала (iskala)
• Thai: ท่า (th) (tâa)
• Turkish: iskele (tr)
• Ukrainian: при́стань f (prýstanʹ), пірс (uk) m (pirs)
• Urdu: گھاٹ‎ m (ghāṭ)
• Uzbek: pirs (uz), pristan (uz), iskala
• Walloon: djetêye (wa) f
• Welsh: pier 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 (さんばし, sanbashi)
• Polish: molo (pl) n
• Swedish: brygga (sv)
• Welsh: pier m

structure used to accommodate ships

• Finnish: laituri (fi)
• French: ponton (fr) m

• Polish: pirs (pl) m
• Scottish Gaelic: laimrig f
• Swedish: pir (sv), brygga (sv)

structure supporting the junction between two spans of a bridge

• Czech: pilíř (cs) m
• Dutch: pijler (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 (きょうきゃく, kyōkyaku)

• 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
• 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 (stǎlb)
• 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)
• Polish: filar (pl) m
• Portuguese: pilastra f
• Russian: столб (ru) m (stolb), просте́нок (ru) m (prosténok)
• Spanish: pilar (es) m
• Swedish: pelare (sv)
• Walloon: pilé (wa) m, pilasse (wa) f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Georgian: ^{(please verify)} ბურჯი (ka) (burǯi)

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

See also

• jetty
• mole
• wharf

Anagrams

• Peri, peri, peri-, prie, ripe

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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 (in Flanders)

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English pier.

Noun

pier m (plural pieren, diminutive piertje n)

1. (architecture) A pier, jetty

Derived terms

• wandelpier

See also

• aanlegsteiger
• golfbreker
• hoofd
• steiger

Etymology 3

Unknown; Flanders only

Alternative forms

• piere (obsolete)

Noun

pier m (plural pieren, diminutive piertje n)

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
• (trap types) steenpier(e), vliegepier(e)
• pierkoorde

Verb

pier

1. first-person singular present indicative of pieren
2. imperative of pieren

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

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Latin

Verb

pier

1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of piō

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Middle English

Noun

pier

1. Alternative form of pere (“peer”)

Adjective

pier

1. Alternative form of pere (“equal”)

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Romanian

Verb

pier

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

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Romansch

Alternative forms

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

Noun

pier f (plural piers)

1. (Sutsilvan) beer, ale

Synonyms

• gervosa