a flat, open-faced baked pie of Italian origin, consisting of a thin layer of bread dough topped with spiced tomato sauce and cheese, often garnished with anchovies, sausage slices, mushrooms, etc.
Also called pizza pie.
Origin: 1930–35; < It pizza (var. pitta), perh. ult. < Gk; Cf. ptea bran, pētítēs bran bread
piz·za (pēt'sə) n. A baked pie of Italian origin consisting of a shallow breadlike crust covered with toppings such as seasoned tomato sauce, cheese, sausage, or olives.
1935, from It. pizza, originally "cake, tart, pie," of uncertain origin. Klein suggests a connection with M.Gk. pitta "cake, pie," from Gk. pitta "pitch." See also pita.Pizzeria is attested from 1943, likely in use in Amer.Eng. from 1930s.