Synonyms for pig

Grammar : Noun

Spell : pig

Phonetic Transcription : pɪg

Définition of pig

Origin : probably from Old English *picg, found in compounds, ultimate origin unknown. Originally "young pig" (the word for adults was swine). Apparently related to Low German bigge, Dutch big ("but the phonology is difficult" -- OED). The meaning "oblong piece of metal" is first attested 1580s, on the notion of "large mass." Applied to persons, usually in contempt, since 1540s; the derogatory slang meaning "police officer" has been in underworld slang since at least 1811.
The pigs frisked my panney, and nailed my screws; the officers searched my house, and seized my picklock keys. ["Dictionary of Buckish Slang, University Wit and Pickpocket Eloquence," London, 1811]
Another Old English word for "pig" was fearh, related to furh "furrow," from PIE *perk- "dig, furrow" (cf. Latin porc-us "pig," see pork). "This reflects a widespread IE tendency to name animals from typical attributes or activities" [Lass]. Synonyms grunter, porker are from sailors' and fishermen's euphemistic avoidance of uttering the word pig at sea, a superstition perhaps based on the fate of the Gadarene swine, who drowned. The image of a pig in a poke is attested from 1520s (see poke (n.3)). Flying pigs as a type of something unreal is from 1610s.

noun animal of swine family

Example sentences :

I hung it up this morning, for the pig with the black feet was eating it.
Extract from : « Riders to the Sea » by J. M. Synge

Mr. COX said he could not smelt a pig, but he thought he smelt a rat.
Extract from : « Punchinello, Vol. 1, No. 8, May 21, 1870 » by Various

He would have stuck that officer like a pig if he had seen him then.
Extract from : « The Secret Agent » by Joseph Conrad

A machine which you go into as a pig and come out of as a sausage.
Extract from : « The Devil's Dictionary » by Ambrose Bierce

Unless a pig is very small it is seldom sent to table whole.
Extract from : « Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches » by Eliza Leslie

But a pig is only the unclean animal—the forbidden of the prophet.
Extract from : « American Notes » by Rudyard Kipling

Six of them returned with cargoes of crockery, bar iron, pig iron, and salt.
Extract from : « Cleveland Past and Present » by Maurice Joblin

Then that pig's as sinsible as any Christian, for he'd run away the minute he'd see me.
Extract from : « Tales And Novels, Volume 8 (of 10) » by Maria Edgeworth

Then they went home, and when the pig was properly done they had it for supper.
Extract from : « Ranald Bannerman's Boyhood » by George MacDonald

I have just returned from a personal interview with the landlord of the Pig and Tinder-box.
Extract from : « The Mudfog and Other Sketches » by Charles Dickens

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Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019