peccary
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of peccary
Borrowed into English around 1605–15 from a Carib language, e.g., Apalai pakira, paquira, or Chayma paquera
Vocabulary lists containing peccary
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.
See Examples For:
The costumes of the cachaceros, representing Africans, are phantasmagoric confections of old jaguar pelts, caiman skulls and peccary teeth.
From New York Times ● Jan. 16, 2024
In their native language, Yawanawá means “white-lipped peccary people.”
From Scientific American ● Apr. 19, 2022
So does the white-lipped peccary, a shy pig that tends to disappear quickly when there’s hunting pressure.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 11, 2021
Pablo Maniguaje, an indigenous Siona man, is wearing a white-sleeved tunic and peccary tooth necklace.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 2, 2019
Bottom: A peccary can be ferocious when threatened and makes a rattling sound by chattering its teeth to scare off predators.
From "Death on the River of Doubt" by Samantha Seiple
![]()
You won’t see deer, tapir, peccaries, monkeys or chicken-like curassows anywhere within trekking distance of habitation; they’ve all been eaten.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 29, 2026
Prehistoric elephants, saber-toothed cats, jaguars, llamas, peccaries, deer, skunks and bears streamed from North America to South.
From Science Daily ● May 28, 2024
Also known as collared peccaries, 30 to 50 hellcatting javelina squadrons have been razing the course turf annually during their fall rush.
From Salon ● Oct. 27, 2023
He says he drank rainwater collected in his shoes and ate worms and other insects while hiding from jaguars and peccaries, a type of pig-like mammal.
From BBC ● Mar. 1, 2023
Why Eurasia’s pigs, but not American peccaries or Africa’s three species of true wild pigs?
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
![]()
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.