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Jul 26, 2011
This week's theme
Animal words that are used metaphorically

This week's words
hircine
porcine
anserine
bovine
pavonine

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

porcine

PRONUNCIATION:
(POR-syn)

MEANING:
adjective:
1. Of or related to swine.
2. Piggish: greedy; sloppy; boorish.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin porcus (hog, pig). Ultimately from the Indo-European root porko- (a young pig) that is also the source of farrow, aardvark, porcelain, pork, porcupine, and porpoise. Earliest documented use: before 1425.

USAGE:
"The lipstick on this pig was thick and expertly applied by a PR machine with a tremendous amount of porcine makeup experience."
Frank Bailey; Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin; Howard Books; 2011.

See more usage examples of porcine in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
It is fortunate to be of high birth, but it is no less so to be of such character that people do not care to know whether you are or are not. -Jean de la Bruyere, essayist and moralist (1645-1696)

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