pork

B1 Topic:Food & Drink

US /poɹk/ UK /pɔːk/ See IPA manual

Freq #3969

Meanings

1

noun
Meat from a pig.

The cafeteria serves pork on Tuesdays.
2

noun
Government spending arranged to please a politician's local voters.

Critics said the new bridge was just pork for the senator's hometown.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · meat from a pig. pigmeat

2 noun · government spending... pork barrel

Word family

Derived forms antiporkborknonporkpork-barrelpork-barrellingpork-basedpork-containingpork-eaterpork-eatingpork-knockerporkaliciousporkburger

Related forms bacon ham pig porcine porcupine swine

Etymology

From Middle English pork, porc, via Anglo-Norman, from Old French porc (“swine, hog, pig; pork”), from Latin porcus (“domestic hog, pig”). Cognate with Old English fearh (“piglet”). Doublet of farrow. Compare also other West Germanic words for pigs: Ferkel, Ferke, and varken. Used in English since the 14th century, and as a term of abuse since the 17th century. US politics sense is related to pork barrel.

*perḱ- Proto-Indo-European pork Middle English porc Old French porcus Latin

View etymology graph ->

External links

# pork

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /poɹk/
**IPA (UK):** /pɔːk/
**Frequency rank:** 3969

## Meanings
1. Meat from a pig.
2. Government spending arranged to please a politician's local voters.

## Examples
- The cafeteria serves pork on Tuesdays.
- Critics said the new bridge was just pork for the senator's hometown.

## Derived Forms
- antipork
- bork
- nonpork
- pork-barrel
- pork-barrelling
- pork-based
- pork-containing
- pork-eater
- pork-eating
- pork-knocker
- porkalicious
- porkburger

## Related Forms
- bacon
- ham
- pig
- porcine
- porcupine
- swine

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *perḱ-
- Root: pork
- Root: porc
- Root: porcus

## Etymology
From Middle English pork, porc, via Anglo-Norman, from Old French porc (“swine, hog, pig; pork”), from Latin porcus (“domestic hog, pig”). Cognate with Old English fearh (“piglet”). Doublet of farrow. Compare also other West Germanic words for pigs: Ferkel, Ferke, and varken. Used in English since the 14th century, and as a term of abuse since the 17th century. US politics sense is related to pork barrel.

## AI Etymology
Pork comes from Middle English pork, porc, via Anglo-Norman, from Old French porc (“swine, hog, pig; pork”), from Latin porcus (“domestic hog, pig”). Cognate with Old English fearh (“piglet”). Doublet of farrow. Compare also other West Germanic words for pigs: Ferkel, Ferke, and varken. Used in English since the 14th century, and as a term of abuse since the 17th century. US politics sense is related to pork barrel. In present-day English it covers meat from a pig and government spending arranged to please a politician's local voters. The wider family includes derived forms such as antipork, bork, nonpork, pork-barrel, pork-barrelling and related forms such as bacon, ham, pig, porcine.

## Topics
- Food & Drink

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pork

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