Etymology

pig

P3I1G2

Today it means: 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. Full definition →

First used ante 1785.Middle English pigge ← Old English *picga ← Proto-West Germanic *puk
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pig · noun, verb1

  1. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*puk
  2. Old English · inherited from*picga
  3. Middle English · inherited frompigge“pig, piglet”
  4. English todaypig

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.

pig · noun2

Possibly a transferred use of pig, because the vessel was thought to resemble the animal.

First known use, by meaning

  • From ante 1785. A police officer.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.