swine

English

Etymology

From Middle English swyn, swin, from Old English swīn, from Proto-West Germanic *swīn, from Proto-Germanic *swīną, from an adjectival form of Proto-Indo-European *suH- (“pig”), equivalent to sow +‎ -en.

Cognates

Related to West Frisian swyn, Low German Swien, Dutch zwijn, German Schwein, Danish and Swedish svin, and more distantly to Polish świnia, Russian свинья́ (svinʹjá), Latin sūinus, Latin sūs, Ancient Greek ὗς (hûs), Persian خوک (xuk).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /swaɪn/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪn

Noun

swine (plural swine or swines)

1. (plural swine) A pig (the animal).
2. (derogatory) A contemptible person (plural swines).
3. (slang, derogatory) A police officer; a "pig".
4. (slang, derogatory) Something difficult or awkward; a pain.

   That old car is a swine to manoeuvre.

Usage notes

In its literal sense, swine is often used, like cattle, as an uncountable plurale tantum: 200 head of swine.

Derived terms

• African swine fever virus
• cast pearls before swine
• Gadarene swine
• go the entire swine
• mereswine
• microswine
• pearls before swine
• seaswine
• swinebread
• swine-bread
• swinecote
• swine fever
• swine flesh
• swine-flesh
• swineflesh
• swine flu
• swineherd
• swineherder
• swineherding
• swinehood
• swine-hound
• swinehound
• swine influenza
• swinelike
• swineling
• swineman
• swinepox
• swinery
• swinestone
• swinesty
• swineyard
• swinish
• throw pearls before swine

 

Translations

pig — see pig

contemptible person

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 卑賤的人／卑贱的人 (zh) (bēijiàn de rén)

• Czech: svině (cs) f
• Danish: svin (da) n
• Dutch: smeerlap (nl) m
• Finnish: sika (fi)
• French: porc (fr) m, vermine (fr) f, (man) salaud (fr) m, (woman) garce (fr) f
• German: Schwein (de) n
• Hebrew: חזיר (he) m
• Hungarian: disznó (hu)
• Icelandic: svín (is) n
• Indonesian: bajingan (id), bangsat (id)
• Italian: porco (it) m
• Japanese: 下劣な人 (ja) (げれつなひと, geretsu na hito)
• Korean: 돼지 (ko) (dwaeji)
• Middle English: swyn
• Ottoman Turkish: خنزیر (hınzır)
• Polish: świnia (pl) f
• Portuguese: canalha (pt) m or f
• Russian: свинья́ (ru) f (svinʹjá)
• Spanish: cerdo (es), canalla (es)
• Swedish: svin (sv) n

See also

• Appendix:English collective nouns

Noun

swine

1. (archaic) plural of sow

Anagrams

• Wenis, Wiens, Wines, sewin, sinew, swein, we'ins, wenis, wines, wisen

Middle English

Noun

swine

1. Alternative form of swyn