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Added 8 October 2026

bacon

/ˈbeɪ.kən/ noun

In Latin: laridum Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about bacon at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

Cured meat from the sides, belly, or back of a pig.
Such meat from the belly specifically.
Thin slices of the above in long strips.

Origin

From Middle English bacoun (“meat from the back and sides of a pig”), from Anglo-Norman bacon, bacun (“ham, flitch, strip of lard”), from Old Low Frankish *bakō (“ham, flitch”), from Proto-Germanic *bakô, *bakkô (“back”), an extension of *baką, whence English back, which see for more. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg- (“back, buttocks; to vault, arch”). Cognate with Old Saxon baco (“back”), Dutch bake (“ham, side of bacon”), Old High German bahho (“ham, side of bacon”), whence German Bache f (“wild sow”), Alemannic German Bache m (“bacon”). (police): Extension of pig (“police”).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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