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pig

/ˈpɪɡ/ symbol

In Latin: sūs, porcus Wiktionary

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

  1. ISO 639-3 language code for Pisabo.

noun

  1. 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.
  2. A young swine, a piglet .
  3. The edible meat of such an animal; pork.
    Some religions prohibit their adherents from eating pig.

verb

  1. To give birth.
    The black sow pigged at seven this morning.
  2. To greedily consume (especially food).
    They were pigging on the free food at the bar.
  3. To huddle or lie together like pigs, in one bed.

noun

  1. An earthenware pot or jar
  2. An earthenware vessel used as a hot-water bottle

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”)).

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