pigpen

American  

[pig-pen] / ˈpɪgˌpɛn /

noun

pigpens plural

1. a pen for keeping pigs.

2. a filthy or untidy place.

   This kitchen is a pigpen.

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pigpen British  

/ ˈpɪɡˌpɛn /

noun

1. a pen for pigs; sty

2. a dirty or untidy place

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• pigpens
  plural

Etymology

Origin of pigpen

First recorded in 1795–1805; pig ¹ + pen ²

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pigpen pigpens

A video reposted on social media by China News Service, a state-run news agency, pointed out the low rate and showed a pigpen in China with an air conditioner.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026

The pigpen squall of guitars makes a gloriously greasy mess, but Slocum’s vocals cut through like vinegar.

From New York Times ● Oct. 28, 2022

There’s even a pen for the pigs her son is raising for 4-H, a rare pigpen with a riverfront view.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 7, 2021

Still another gave them a pigpen to set up on their land.

From Washington Times ● Mar. 2, 2020

The truck backed slowly to the pigpen and stopped.

From "Charlotte's Web" by E.B. White

Assured that it was not and that the patient was responding nicely, she went to see the pigpens outside.

From Time Magazine Archive

When cultures subsist on food from individual cottages, it is not uncommon to find private pigpens.

From Time Magazine Archive

They found curious black stones used for weighting haystacks, rain-barrel covers and dugout roofs, for plugging gaps in pigpens.

From Time Magazine Archive

With U.S. help, General Vien has launched several new training programs designed to help soldiers learn everything from setting guerrilla-style ambushes to assisting villagers in building pigpens.

From Time Magazine Archive

Then the smell struck him—something putrid, something so rotten that you would not even throw it into the pigpens back in his uncle’s village.

From "Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps" by Andrea Warren