porcus

Latin
porcus fēmina et porculus (a female pig and piglet)

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *porkos, from Proto-Indo-European *pórḱos (“young swine, young pig”). Cognate with Old English fearh (“young pig, hog”). More at farrow. Compare also Ancient Greek πόρκος (pórkos).

Pronunciation
  • (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈpor.kus/, [ˈpɔr.kʊs]
  • Audio (Classical)(file)

Noun

porcus m (genitive porcī); second declension

  1. a piglet, a young pig
  2. (more generally) a pig, hog
  3. (derogatory) glutton, pig
  4. (porcus marīnus) the sea-hog, mereswine, porpoise
  5. female genitalia
  6. (military) a wedge-shaped battle formation

Usage notes
  • For the semantic shift of “pig” to “female genitalia”, compare the same Ancient Greek use of χοῖρος (khoîros).

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative porcus porcī
Genitive porcī porcōrum
Dative porcō porcīs
Accusative porcum porcōs
Ablative porcō porcīs
Vocative porce porcī

Synonyms
  • (pig): sūs
  • (battle formation): caput porcī

Derived terms

Descendants

References

Anagrams
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.