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Synonyms

piggy bank

American  

noun

  1. a small bank, having the shape of a pig, provided with a slot at the top to receive small coins.

  2. any small bank in which coins are kept.


piggy bank British  

noun

  1. a child's coin bank shaped like a pig with a slot for coins

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of piggy bank

First recorded in 1940–45

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.

They include a teenage boy with a piggy bank full of videogame winnings, a young woman in need of a heart transplant, a cash-poor film producer and a mute priest.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 27, 2026

The county piggy bank is not being raided, although public bonds still represent a subsidy and the assumption of some public risk.

From Slate • Nov. 24, 2025

But Mara obviously internalized what he said: When we got home, she opened her piggy bank, which held her income from recent babysitting jobs, to see if she could scrape together the 50 bucks.

From Salon • Aug. 3, 2024

The live attraction mimics both the popular iconography of the series — the massive piggy bank filled with cash, a giant animatronic doll named Young-hee, the sterile white dormitory — and the childish games.

From New York Times • Dec. 2, 2023

He bent down carefully, as if the floor beneath him could shift at any moment, picked up our ravaged piggy bank, and turned it over in his hands.

From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls