Link Centre Dictionary

pig

UK/ˈpɪɡ/ US/ˈpʰɪɡ/ common informal slang uk us
noun (6) verb (3)

noun

1.
2.
3.

a person regarded as greedy and pig-like

Synonyms
4.
5.

mold consisting of a bed of sand in which pig iron is cast

Synonyms
6.

a crude block of metal (lead or iron) poured from a smelting furnace

verb

1.

live like a pig, in squalor

Synonyms
2.

eat greedily

  • “he devoured three sandwiches”
Synonyms
3.

give birth

  • “sows farrow”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English pigge (“pig, piglet”) (originally a term for a young pig, with adult pigs being swyn (“swine”)), from Old English *picga, *pycga (attested in picgbrēad (“mast, pig-fodder”)), perhaps a diminutive of Proto-West Germanic *puk, *pūk (“pig”), which also gave rise to Middle Low German pûke, puyke (“pig, piglet”). Pokorny suggests this root might be somehow related to *bū-, *bew- (“to blow; swell”), which could account for the alternation between "pig" and "big". Compare Middle Dutch pogge, puggen, pigge, pegsken (> dialectal Dutch pogge (“piglet”)), Middle Low German pugge (> Westphalian German Low German Pogge, Pugge, Püggsken (“pig, piglet”)). A connection to early modern Dutch bigge (modern Dutch big (“piglet”)), West Frisian bigge (“piglet”), German Low German Bigge, Bigg (“piglet”), and Saterland Frisian Bikkie (“piggy”) is sometimes proposed, "but the phonology is difficult". Some sources say the words are "almost certainly not" related, others consider a relation "probable, but not certain". The slang sense of "police officer" is attested since at least 1785.

Phrases

  • as happy as a pig in mud
  • Australasian pig-nose turtle
  • baby pig disease
  • banded pig
  • bearded pig
  • bleed like a pig
  • bleed like a stuck pig
  • blind pig

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.