# bacon

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈbeɪ.kən/ · frequency rank #5,573

## Definitions
1. Cured meat from the sides, belly, or back of a pig.
2. Cured meat from the sides, belly, or back of a pig.
3. Thin slices of the above in long strips.
4. The police or spies.
5. Road rash.
6. A saucisse.

## Etymology
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”).

## Easily confused with
- **ban** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bacon-vs-ban)
- **BON** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bacon-vs-bon)
- **bao** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bacon-vs-bao)
- **barn** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bacon-vs-barn)
- **boon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bacon-vs-boon)
- **bain** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bacon-vs-bain)
- **basin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bacon-vs-basin)
- **baron** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bacon-vs-baron)
- **Byron** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bacon-vs-byron)
- **baton** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bacon-vs-baton)
- **Baden** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bacon-vs-baden)
- **bison** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bacon-vs-bison)
- **bayou** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bacon-vs-bayou)
- **banco** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bacon-vs-banco)
- **boron** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bacon-vs-boron)
- **boson** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bacon-vs-boson)
- **beacon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bacon-vs-beacon)
- **Barton** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bacon-vs-barton)
- **Barron** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bacon-vs-barron)
- **Bannon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bacon-vs-bannon)

## Common misspellings (7)
`abcon`, `baccon`, `bacno`, `baconn`, `baocn`, `bbacon`, `bcaon`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/bacon