Meaning & use
porcine
Last updated
Meanings
adjectivebefore a nountechnical
Relating to pigs or having to do with them.
Grammar: Almost always used before a noun in science or farming.
Patterns
- porcine disease
- porcine tissue
Vets studied a porcine virus that had spread among the farm herds.
Porcine heart valves are sometimes used in surgery.
The report covers porcine nutrition on small farms.
adjectivecomparableliterarydisapproving
Like a pig in looks or manner, often suggesting a fat, greedy or coarse person.
Grammar: Often used humorously or unkindly about faces and habits.
Patterns
- porcine features
- porcine eyes
The writer described the mayor's porcine eyes and thick neck.
He ate with a porcine appetite at the buffet.
Her porcine snort made the whole room laugh.
Common combinations
- porcine flu
- Porcine flu is a virus that infects pigs.
- porcine features
- The villain had porcine features.
- porcine heart valve
- He received a porcine heart valve.
- porcine appetite
- His porcine appetite astonished the waiters.
- porcine eyes
- Small porcine eyes watched from the corner.
Synonyms and how they differ
- piggish
- Piggish is plainer and usually insults greed or bad manners, whereas porcine can be neutral and scientific.
- swinish
- Swinish is rarer and stronger as an insult than porcine.
- pig-like
- Pig-like is the everyday phrase that carries less formality.
- hoggish
- Hoggish focuses on greed and selfishness and is more old-fashioned.
Word family
Commonly confused: porcine or porcelain? porcine or bovine?
porcine vs porcelain
Porcelain is fine white china, which has no link to pigs, though the word comes from an Italian term for a shell.
porcine vs bovine
Bovine relates to cattle, not pigs.
Practice
A vet who studies ____ diseases works mainly with which animal?
Choose one answer.
Porcine relates to pigs. Bovine is for cattle, ovine for sheep and equine for horses.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “porcine”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.