Meanings
plural hogwashes
- figurativelyinformaluncountableusuallyFoolish talk or writing; nonsense.
We have more faith in the average American than that. It’s not true that Americans love hogwash— it’s that hogwash inundates Americans, whether they want it or not! Some Americans want the truth— they just haven’t been able to find it because it is drowned out by hogwash.
2016, T. Colin Campbell, Thomas M. Campbell, The China Study: Revised and Expanded Edition, BenBella Books, Inc., page 2141 more example
Diplomatic hogwash aside, ‘efficiency and effectiveness’ have nothing to do with the shutting of the Consulate. The decision is but a continuation of successive US measures aimed at “taking Jerusalem off the table” – as per Trump’s own words - of any future negotiations.
2019 March 14, Ramzy Baroud, “Chasing mirages: What are Palestinians doing to combat ‘Deal of the Century’?”, in Ma'an News, archived from the original on 30 Mar 2019Synonyms: hogshit, bullshit, absurdity, all my eye, all my eye and Betty Martin, apple grease, applesauce, bafflegab
Synonyms & antonyms
nounFoolish talk or writing; nonsense.
More synonyms by meaning
noununacceptable behavior (especially ludicrously false statements)
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle English*hoggewasch
- Englishhogwash
From Middle English *hoggewasch (found only as Middle English hoggyswasch (“refuse of the kitchen for feeding pigs”, literally “hog's wash”)), equivalent to hog + wash.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian глу́пости, помия
- глу́пости (glúposti)nonsense
- помия (pomija)scraps fed to pigs
Catalan absurditat
- absurditatnonsense
Chinese Mandarin 泔水
- 泔水 (gānshuǐ)scraps fed to pigs
Dutch prietpraat
- prietpraatnonsense
Esperanto stultaĵo, nekompreneblaĵo
- stultaĵononsense
- nekompreneblaĵononsense
- volapukaĵononsense
Finnish pötypuhe, hölynpöly
- pötypuhenonsense
- hölynpölynonsense
French baratin, boniment
- baratinnonsense
- bonimentnonsense
German Quatsch, Unsinn
- Quatschnonsense
- Unsinnnonsense
- Blödsinnnonsense
- Spültrankscraps fed to pigs
- Sautrankscraps fed to pigs
- Schweinefutterscraps fed to pigs
- Futtersuppescraps fed to pigs
Greek κουραφέξαλα
- κουραφέξαλα (kouraféxala)nonsense
Italian cazzata, stupidaggine
- cazzatanonsense
- stupidagginenonsense
- corbellerianonsense
- minchiatanonsense
- pastonescraps fed to pigs
- intruglioscraps fed to pigs
- avanziscraps fed to pigs
- sbobbascraps fed to pigs
Portuguese disparate
- disparatenonsense
Russian бред си́вой кобы́лы, вздор
- бред си́вой кобы́лы (bred sívoj kobýly)nonsense
- вздор (vzdor)nonsense
- ерунда́ (jerundá)nonsense
- глу́пости (glúposti)nonsense
- фигня́ (fignjá)nonsense
- помо́и (pomói)scraps fed to pigs
Slovak pomyje, zvyšky
- pomyjescraps fed to pigs
- zvyškyscraps fed to pigs
Spanish tonterías, paparruchas
- tonteríasnonsense
- paparruchasnonsense
- sinsentidononsense
- bazofiascraps fed to pigs
Swedish strunt
- struntnonsense
Yiddish שטותים, נאַרישקייטן
- שטותים (shtusem)nonsense
- נאַרישקייטן (narishkeytn)nonsense
- קוואַטש (kvatsh)nonsense
Cite this entry
hogwash. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hogwash
“hogwash.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hogwash. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hogwash,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hogwash.
Source: hogwash on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.