Meanings
comparative more swinish · superlative most swinish
- Like a pig, resembling a swine; gluttonous, coarse, debased.
Near-synonyms: boarish, boarlike
2 more examples
[…]They clip vs drunkards, and with Swiniſh phraſe / Soyle our addition, and indeede it takes / From our atchieuements, though perform’d at height / The pith and marrow of our attribute[…]
c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv]Epicurus, though his ethic seemed to others swinish and lacking in moral exultation, was very much in earnest.
1946, Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, I.27Synonyms: piggish, hoggish, swinelike, piglike, hoglike, porcine, boarish, boarlike
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveLike a pig, resembling a swine; gluttonous, coarse, debased.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectiveill-mannered and coarse and contemptible in behavior or appearance
adjectiveresembling swine; coarsely gluttonous or greedy
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishswinisse
- Englishswinish
From Middle English swinisse, swynys, swynyse; equivalent to swine + -ish.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek χοιρώδης
- χοιρώδης (khoirṓdēs)like a pig, resembling a swine
Bulgarian свински
- свински (svinski)like a pig, resembling a swine
Cite this entry
swinish. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/swinish
“swinish.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/swinish. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “swinish,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/swinish.
Source: swinish on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.