swine
Americannoun
plural
swine-
any stout, cloven-hoofed artiodactyl of the Old World family Suidae, having a thick hide sparsely covered with coarse hair, a disklike snout, and an often short, tasseled tail: now of worldwide distribution and hunted or raised for its meat and other products.
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the domestic hog, Sus scrofa.
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a coarse, gross, or brutishly sensual person.
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a contemptible person.
noun
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a coarse or contemptible person
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another name for a pig
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of swine
before 900; Middle English; Old English swīn; cognate with German Schwein hog, Latin suīnus (adj.) porcine; akin to sow 2
Explanation
A swine is a pig or a big ol’ nasty hog. Swine have short legs, thick bodies, and they eat just about anything. If someone acts like a pig, call him a swine. Although it’s old fashioned, the word swine comes in handy if you need another word for hog, like if you’re really into writing poems about pigs. Swine — which is also the plural form, like fish — are common farm animals. Some are eaten as bacon, some are kept as pets. Swine themselves are omnivorous, so they'll eat meat, vegetables, or, well, garbage.
Vocabulary lists containing swine
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Swine fever does not affect humans but is highly contagious and lethal for pigs, storing up potentially devastating consequences for the pork sector.
From Barron's • Dec. 2, 2025
Sen. Joni Ernst at the Cattle and Swine Barn, and meets with members of the Iowa Pork Producers, a trade organization.
From Washington Times • Aug. 10, 2023
Upside risks to inflation remained given the threat of an El Nino weather pattern and the resurgence of African Swine Flu, the economic planning agency said in a statement.
From Reuters • May 5, 2023
The only other diseases this has happened for in the past are Swine flu, polio, Ebola, Zika and Covid.
From BBC • Jun. 14, 2022
Barnim's chance gave him Eastern Pomerania as far as the Swine, and with Stettin as a residence.
From Bartholomew Sastrow Being the Memoirs of a German Burgomaster by Sastrow, Bartholomew
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
