swine

[ swahyn ]
See synonyms for swine on Thesaurus.com
noun,plural swine.
  1. any stout, cloven-hoofed artiodactyl of the Old World family Suidae, having a thick hide sparsely covered with coarse hair, a disklike snout, and an often short, tasseled tail: now of worldwide distribution and hunted or raised for its meat and other products.: Compare hog, pig1, wild boar.

  2. the domestic hog, Sus scrofa.

  1. a coarse, gross, or brutishly sensual person.

  2. a contemptible person.

Origin of swine

1
before 900; Middle English; Old English swīn; cognate with German Schwein hog, Latin suīnus (adj.) porcine; akin to sow2

Other words from swine

  • swinelike, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

British Dictionary definitions for swine

swine

/ (swaɪn) /


noun
  1. plural swines a coarse or contemptible person

  2. plural swine another name for a pig

Origin of swine

1
Old English swīn; related to Old Norse svīn, Gothic swein, Latin suīnus relating to swine

Derived forms of swine

  • swinelike, adjective
  • swinish, adjective
  • swinishly, adverb
  • swinishness, noun

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

Other Idioms and Phrases with swine

swine

see cast pearls before swine.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.