earth pig
UK/ˈɜːθpɪɡ/US/ˈɝθpɪɡ/
earth pig noun: the aardvark.
Noun
earth pig (plural earth pigs)
- The aardvark.
- In the high grassy plateaus, with their isolated groups of bushy shrubs, we find, together with the earth pigs and armadilloes mentioned above, two kinds of gazelles (Cephalophus mergens and Calotragus campestris).1881, Land, sea and sky; or, Wonders of life and nature
- The curious ant-eaters (earth pigs and pangolins) are probably relics of an earlier fauna, which have survived owing to their nocturnal habits.1893, Frederick Courteney Selous, Travel and Adventure in South-East Africa
- Synonyms:
- earthhog
Examples of earth pig in a sentence
- But these “earth pigs” are not easy to catch.1959, Bertha Morris Parker, THE GOLDEN BOOK ENCYCLOPEDIA:
- Bahuchet (1985), who researched the Aka living in Central Africa, cites the earth pig, flying squirrel, and leopard as examples of avoided food animals.2012, Bonnie L. Hewlett, Adolescent Identity: Evolutionary, Cultural and Developmental Perspectives:
Synonyms of earth pig
Forms of earth pig
| plural | earth pigs |
|---|---|
| alternative form | earth-pig |
| alternative form | earthpig |
Origin of earth pig
Calque of Afrikaans aardvark (literally “earth-pig”), equivalent to earth + pig.
Questions about earth pig
- What does earth pig mean?
- Earth pig means the aardvark.
- How do you use earth pig in a sentence?
- But these “earth pigs” are not easy to catch.
- What part of speech is earth pig?
- Earth pig is a noun.
- How do you pronounce earth pig?
- Earth pig is pronounced /ˈɜːθpɪɡ/ (UK).
- What is the plural of earth pig?
- The plural of earth pig is earth pigs.
Words near earth pig in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: earth pig (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “earth pig.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/earth_pig. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.