"pile or heap of wood or other combustible materials for burning a dead body," 1650s, from Latin pyra and directly from Greek pyra (Ionic pyrē) "funeral pyre; altar for sacrifice; watch-fire; hearth; any place where fire is kindled," from pyr "fire" (from PIE root *paewr- "fire," source also of fire (n.)). Related: Pyral.
It forms all or part of: antipyretic; burro; empyreal; empyrean; fire; pyracanth; pyre; pyretic; pyrexia; pyrite; pyro-; pyrolusite; pyromania; pyrrhic; sbirro.
It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit pu, Hittite pahhur "fire;" Armenian hur "fire, torch;" Czech pyr "hot ashes;" Greek pyr, Umbrian pir "fire;" Old English fyr, German Feuer "fire."
From 1727 as "trunk of the human body above the waist." Meaning "bosom, measurement around a woman's body at the level of her breasts" is by 1884.
chain of mountains between France and Spain, 1550s, from French Pyrénées, from Latin Pyrenæi montes, from Greek Pyrēnē, name of a daughter of Bebryx/Bebrycius who was beloved of Herakles; she is said to be buried in these mountains (or that the mountains are the tomb Herakles reared over her corpse).
The name is said to mean literally "fruit-stone," but Room says it might be Greek pyr "fire" + eneos "dumb, speechless," which perhaps translates or folk-etymologizes a Celtic goddess name. "In medieval times there was no overall name for the range and local people would have known only the names of individual mountains and valleys" [Adrian Room, "Place Names of the World," 2nd ed., 2006]. Related: Pyrenean.
"fever, a higher bodily temperature than is normal," 1769, medical Latin, from Greek pyrexis "feverishness," from pyressein "to be feverish, to be ill of fever," from pyretos "fever, burning heat" (related to pyr "fire," from PIE root *paewr- "fire") + abstract noun ending -ia. Formerly sometimes nativized as pyrexy. Related: Pyrexial; pyrexic; pyrexical.
"characterized by or affected with fever," 1809, from French pyrétique or directly from Modern Latin pyreticus, from Greek pyretos "fever, burning heat," related to pyr "fire" (from PIE root *paewr- "fire"). As a noun, "a pyretic agent," from 1728.
1915, proprietary name (Corning Glass Works, Corning, N.Y.) of a type of hard, heat-resistant glass, an arbitrary coinage, in which advertisement writers and eager etymologists see implications of Greek pyr "fire" and perhaps Latin rex "king;" but the prosaic inventors say it was based on pie (n.1), because pie dishes were among the first products made from it. The -r-, in that case, is purely euphonious.