In the pneumatic tire of this invention, at least the outermost one of a plurality of rubber layers between the carcass and tread has been reinforced with a plurality of steel cords. Each of these steel cords is a single-strand steel cord with an elongation at break of not less than 4% and at least one of its component wires does not form a common circumcircle with the remaining wires. This pneumatic tire features a high anti-cut property, high wire tenacity utilization rate, high rigidity and inhibited onset and growth of separation. The curve circumscribing the cross-sections of the constituent wires of each steel cord is not a true circle. Furthermore, a high resistance to nail penetration is assured by arranging the steel cords in such a manner that, for a large majority of steel cords, the direction of maximum offset span of the circumscribing curve is substantially coincidental with the width direction of the outermost layer of rubber.