piggy bank
Americannoun
-
a small bank, having the shape of a pig, provided with a slot at the top to receive small coins.
-
any small bank in which coins are kept.
noun
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
UK retailers are being "raided like a piggy bank", the boss of Marks & Spencer has said, as the sector faces rising taxes.
From BBC • Feb. 9, 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
Before she went to baby-sit again, Shirley secretly substituted buttons for the coins in the piggy bank.
From "In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson" by Bette Bao Lord
![]()
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.