All articles starting with P
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Pillar Edicts of Ashoka
The Pillar Edicts of Ashoka (स्तम्भलेख) are proclamations that Maurya emperor Ashoka (r. 268–232 BCE) had engraved on pillars in Prakrit, written in the Brahmi script.
Pillar-below Clerk (Zhou archivist office, Zhu-xia-shi)
The Pillar-below Clerk (zhu-xia-shi) was a scribe's title of the Zhou and Qin periods, identified by Sima Zhen with the censor and held by Lao Zi.
Pillars of Ashoka
Pillars of Ashoka: monolithic Mauryan sandstone columns (r. 268–232 BCE) erected across India and Nepal, inscribed with Prakrit edicts on Dhamma in Brahmi and Kharoshthi, crowned with lion, bull, and elephant capitals including the Sarnath four-lion State Emblem of India.
Pillars of Creation
The Pillars of Creation are tall columns of hydrogen gas and dust in the Eagle Nebula in Serpens, about 6,500 light-years from Earth, where new stars are forming.
Pillars of Eternity
Pillars of Eternity (Project Eternity) is Obsidian Entertainment's 2015 isometric party-based CRPG set in Eora, funded by 73,986 Kickstarter backers ($3.99M), with real-time-with-pause combat and a turn-based mode added in 2026.
Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire
Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire is a 2018 isometric party-based RPG by Obsidian Entertainment, sequel to Pillars of Eternity. Set in the Deadfire Archipelago, it adds ship command, multiclassing, and a later turn-based mode; Metacritic 88.
Pillars of Hercules
Pillars of Hercules (Ἡράκλειαι Στῆλαι), ancient name for the Strait of Gibraltar and its flanking promontories, Calpe (Gibraltar) and Abila; also bronze columns of Melqart at Gades, marking the world's western edge.
Pillbox (military)
A pillbox, also called a military pillbox, is a small concrete fortification fitted with loopholes for rifles and machine guns, first used by Germany during the First World War.
Pillbox hat
The pillbox hat is a small, brimless hat with a flat, circular top and short cylindrical sides, named for old pill containers and made famous by Jacqueline Kennedy in 1961.
PillCam
PillCam is a family of single-use ingestible camera capsules made by Medtronic that transmit wireless video of the gastrointestinal tract, first used in 1999 and FDA-cleared in 2001.
Pillerhöhe
Pillerhöhe (Piller Sattel, Piller Höhe), Tyrol Alpine pass at about 1560 m linking the Upper Inn valley with the Pitztal, site of a sanctuary used from the Middle Bronze Age to Late Antiquity, discovered 1992, with Raetic inscribed objects IT-8 and IT-9.
Pillichsdorf
Pillichsdorf, a market town of about 1,250 people in Bezirk Mistelbach, Lower Austria, in the Weinviertel; known for its Hallstatt-period princely tumulus (Kalvarienberg, ca. 650 BC), the 1878 Heger excavation, and the Battle of Wagram.
Pillion (film)
Pillion is a 2025 British romantic comedy-drama, Harry Lighton's debut feature, adapted from Adam Mars-Jones's novella Box Hill. Starring Alexander Skarsgård and Harry Melling as a dom-sub BDSM couple, it won Un Certain Regard Best Screenplay at Cannes 2025 and was released by A24 in the US in February 2026.
Pillitokome
Pillitokome was a small village of ancient Lycaonia in the Roman period, never named by ancient authors and known only from a funerary inscription, located near İnsuyu in the Cihanbeyli district of Konya Province, Turkey.
Pilliya
Pilliya was a king of Kizzuwatna in south-eastern Anatolia in the mid-15th century BC, known from treaties with Idrimi of Alalakh and the Hittite Zidanza.
Pillory
A pillory is a wooden locking device that restrained an offender's neck and wrists for public humiliation, used from medieval times into the 19th century.
Pillow
A pillow is a cushioned support placed under the head during sleep to keep the head, neck, and spine aligned, typically filled with down, feathers, foam, or latex.
Pillow lava
Pillow lava is fluid, usually basaltic lava that chills in contact with water and solidifies as rounded, pillow-shaped masses with glassy skins, forming most new ocean floor.
Pillow talk
Pillow talk: intimate, unguarded conversation between partners in bed, especially after sex. Research term for post-sex communication; a 2020 experiment found it raised men's, not women's, relationship satisfaction.
Pillow Talk (1959 film)
Pillow Talk (1959) is a Universal romantic comedy directed by Michael Gordon, starring Doris Day, Rock Hudson, and Tony Randall as rivals over a telephone party line; it won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
Pillowtalk
Pillowtalk (PILLOWTALK) is Zayn's 2016 RCA debut solo single, lead track of Mind of Mine; it hit No. 1 in the US, UK, and reportedly 68 countries, went quintuple platinum, and stars Gigi Hadid in its Bouha Kazmi video.
Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches
Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches is Happy Mondays' third studio album, released November 5, 1990 on Factory Records. Produced by Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne and recorded in Los Angeles, this BRIT-nominated platinum Madchester album peaked commercially with the singles Step On and Kinky Afro.
Pillsbury Doughboy
Pillsbury Doughboy, also Poppin' Fresh, is Pillsbury's dough mascot created by Rudy Perz at Leo Burnett in 1965, debuting November 7, 1965 in stop-motion; over 600 ads, 87% recognition, Macy's balloon since 2009, now owned by General Mills.
Pilobolus
Pilobolus (dung cannon, hat-thrower fungus) is a genus of mucoromycotan fungi, family Pilobolaceae, growing obligately on herbivore dung and shooting adhesive sporangia up to 2.5 m toward light; also disperses lungworm larvae.
Pilocarpine
Pilocarpine, a plant-derived muscarinic cholinergic agonist introduced to ophthalmology in 1876, lowers intraocular pressure in glaucoma and, in low concentrations (Vuity 1.25%, Qlosi 0.4%), treats presbyopia; limited today by miosis, blurred vision, and frequent dosing.
Pilocytic astrocytoma
Pilocytic astrocytoma, also known as juvenile pilocytic astrocytoma, is a slow-growing grade 1 glioma, the most common brain tumor in children, with 90% ten-year survival.
Pilomatrix carcinoma
Pilomatrix carcinoma, also called malignant pilomatricoma, is a rare malignant skin tumor of hair follicle cells, usually a firm nodule on the head or neck of older adults.
Pilomatrixoma
Pilomatrixoma (calcifying epithelioma of Malherbe, pilomatricoma) is a benign hair follicle matrix tumor, common in children on the head and neck, linked to CTNNB1/Wnt mutations, treated by excision with low recurrence.
Pilón-Lajas Biosphere Reserve
Pilón-Lajas Biosphere Reserve (RB-TCO Pilón Lajas), a UNESCO MAB reserve since 1977 and indigenous territory in Bolivia's La Paz and Beni departments; ~400,000 ha, co-managed by the Tsimane-Mosetén Regional Council, home to jaguar and spectacled bear.
Pilonidal disease
Pilonidal disease, also called pilonidal sinus or jeep disease, is an acquired infection of the natal cleft caused by penetrating loose hairs, affecting young adults; treated by drainage, off-midline flap surgery, and hair removal.