# pig

> English word · Noun · IPA /pɪɡ/ · frequency rank #5,724

## Definitions
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.
2. 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.
3. The edible meat of such an animal; pork.
4. A light pinkish-red colour, like that of a pig (also called pig pink).
5. Someone who overeats or eats rapidly and noisily.
6. A lecherous or sexist man.
7. A dirty or slovenly person.
8. An obese person.
9. A police officer.
10. A difficult problem.
11. An oblong block of cast metal (now only iron or lead).
12. The mold in which a block of metal is cast.
13. A lead container used for radioactive waste.
14. A device for cleaning or inspecting the inside of an oil or gas pipeline, or for separating different substances within the pipeline. Named for the pig-like squealing noise made by their progress.
15. The general-purpose M60 machine gun, considered to be heavy and bulky.
16. A simple dice game in which players roll the dice as many times as they like, either accumulating a greater score or losing previous points gained.
17. A sixpence.
18. A Cadillac car.
19. A Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
20. The victim of a pig butchering scam.

## 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.

## Easily confused with
- **PM** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pig-vs-pm)
- **PP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pig-vs-pp)
- **PR** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pig-vs-pr)
- **pt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pig-vs-pt)
- **PS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pig-vs-ps)
- **po** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pig-vs-po)
- **PL** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pig-vs-pl)
- **PU** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pig-vs-pu)
- **PK** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pig-vs-pk)
- **PV** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pig-vs-pv)
- **PJ** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pig-vs-pj)
- **PW** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pig-vs-pw)
- **PX** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pig-vs-px)
- **put** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pig-vs-put)
- **pro** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pig-vs-pro)
- **pop** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pig-vs-pop)
- **pot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pig-vs-pot)
- **pin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pig-vs-pin)
- **pit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pig-vs-pit)
- **pub** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pig-vs-pub)

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