pig
/ˈpɪɡ/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms pigs pigging pigged P.I.G.
- noun (countable) Any of several mammalian species of the family Suidae, having cloven hooves, bristles and a snout adapted for digging; especially the domesticated animal Sus domesticus. “The man kept a pen with two pigs that he fed everything from carrots to cabbage.”
- noun (specifically) A young swine, a piglet (contrasted with a hog, an adult swine).
- noun (uncountable) The edible meat of such an animal; pork. “Some religions prohibit their adherents from eating pig.”
- noun (uncountable) A light pinkish-red colour, like that of a pig (also called piggy pink).
- noun Someone who overeats or eats rapidly and noisily. “You gluttonous pig! Now that you've eaten all the cupcakes, there will be none for the party!”
- noun A lecherous or sexist man. “She considered him a pig, as he invariably stared at her bosom when they talked.”
- noun A dirty or slovenly person. “He was a pig and his apartment a pigpen; take-away containers and pizza boxes in a long, moldy stream lined his counter tops.”
- noun An obese person.
- verb (of swine) To give birth. “The black sow pigged at seven this morning.”
- verb (intransitive) To greedily consume (especially food). “They were pigging on the free food at the bar.”
- verb (intransitive) To huddle or lie together like pigs, in one bed.
- verb (intransitive) To live together in a crowded filthy manner.
- verb (transitive, engineering) To clean (a pipeline) using a pig (the device).
- noun (Scotland) An earthenware pot or jar
- noun (specifically) An earthenware vessel used as a hot-water bottle
- noun Persuade, Identify, GOTV, an electoral technique commonly employed in the United Kingdom.
- noun Police in gear.
- proper noun The twelfth of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar.
Synonyms
hog suid swine animal belly-god big back buzgut cormorant dog epicure gannet glutton gorger gourmand gormandizer greedyguts guttle Homer Simpson helluo slow belly grunter squealer Sus scrofa slob sloven slovenly person bull cop copper fuzz
Etymology
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.
Possibly a transferred use of pig, because the vessel was thought to resemble the animal.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A piggin. [Written also pigg.]
- noun The young of swine, male or female; also, any swine; a hog. "Two pigges in a poke." Chaucer.
- noun Any wild species of the genus Sus and related genera.
- verb To bring forth (pigs); to bring forth in the manner of pigs; to farrow.
Etymology [Cf. D. big, bigge, LG. bigge, also Dan. pige girl, Sw. piga, Icel. pika.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “pig”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details