swine
swine Lexical Profile
swine Game Scores & Validity
• noun
Any stout-bodied, short-legged, omnivorous hoofed mammal of the family Suidae, having a thick bristly skin and a long flexible snout; a domesticated pig, hog, or wild boar.
"The agricultural fair featured an entire pavilion dedicated to prize-winning cattle and swine."
A contemptible, brutal, greedy, or unpleasant person.
"He was denounced in the press as a greedy swine who profited from the misfortune of others."
British Something that is extremely unpleasant, difficult, or frustrating to deal with.
"The rusted bolt was an absolute swine to loosen without stripping the threads."
Word Nuance & Usage
In contemporary usage, "swine" is an uncountable or invariant plural noun (both singular and plural are "swine"), though the regular plural "swines" occasionally appears when referring to contemptible people. In agriculture and veterinary contexts, it is the standard collective term for pigs, whereas in everyday speech it is largely restricted to derogatory usage.
• Rhymes for swine
Word Origin & Etymology
From Old English "swīn," meaning a pig or wild boar, descending from Proto-Germanic "*swīną" and ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root "*suH-," which imitates the sound made by pigs and is cognate with Latin "sus."