pig iron

American  

noun

1. iron tapped from a blast furnace and cast into pigs in preparation for conversion into steel, cast iron, or wrought iron.

2. iron in the chemical state in which it exists when tapped from the blast furnace, without alloying or refinement.

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pig iron British  

noun

1. crude iron produced in a blast furnace and poured into moulds in preparation for making wrought iron, steels, alloys, etc

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Etymology

Origin of pig iron

First recorded in 1655–65

Example Sentences

In 1878, confronting the lowest prices for pig iron since colonial times, American ironmasters wondered if the smokestacks on their idled blast furnaces might serve a higher use as astronomical observatories.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 29, 2026

Other sectors included pig iron production at 12%, with cement, road freight transport, and private power generation each covering 7% of total emissions.

From Science Daily • May 15, 2024

A third stream comes when the resulting pig iron is turned into steel by cooking it a bit further—baking off most of the remaining carbon—and alloying it with additives such as chromium or titanium.

From Science Magazine • Apr. 30, 2024

The Anna-Theresa, a Liberian-flagged bulk carrier carrying 56,000 tons of pig iron, left the Ukrainian port of Yuzhny on Friday and is now close to Bulgarian territorial waters, Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said.

From Washington Times • Sep. 2, 2023

Inside the flat a fruity voice was reading out a list of figures which had something to do with the production of pig iron.

From "1984" by George Orwell