pig iron
UK/ˈpɪɡ aɪən//ˈpɪɡ ˌaɪ(ə)ɹn/
pig iron noun: a brittle, impure form of iron produced by smelting iron ore which is often shaped into blocks; it is unsuitable for working but suitable for casting, and so is commonly used as an industrial raw material; (countable) a sample of such iron.
Noun
pig iron (usually uncountable, plural pig irons)
- A brittle, impure form of iron produced by smelting iron ore which is often shaped into blocks; it is unsuitable for working but suitable for casting, and so is commonly used as an industrial raw material; (countable) a sample of such iron.
- We spent a lot of time up on the staging of the great furnaces, trying to pick up the tricks of the trade from the taciturn furnacemen who sat around placidly smoking, or chewing twist, and occasionally throwing in more pig iron to the molten white-hot metal.1945 January and February, a former pupil [pseudonym], “Some Memories of Crewe Works—III”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 14
- Synonyms:
- crude iron
- An iron plate which is hung between a piece of meat and the fire used to cook it to prevent the meat from burning if the fire is too hot.
- Synonyms:
- pig plate
pig iron meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
pig iron in Hindi
- impure form of iron produced by smelting iron ore
- कच्चा लोहा kaccā lohā
pig iron in Tamil
- பன்றி இரும்பு, கசடிரும்பு, கசடு இரும்பு, கனியிரும்பு, வார்ப்பிரும்பு, கச்சா இரும்பு
pig iron in Urdu
- impure form of iron produced by smelting iron ore
- کَچّا لوہا kaccā lohā
pig iron in Bengali
- impure form of iron produced by smelting iron ore
- কাঁচা লোহা kãca lōha
More languagesFewer languages
- pig iron in Sinhala
- අමු යකඩ amu yakaḍa
- pig iron in Tagalog
- ilik-bakal
- pig iron in Arabic
- حديد غفل
- pig iron in Malay
- besi jongkong
- pig iron in Indonesian
- besi gubal, besi kasar
- pig iron in Persian
- آهن خام
- pig iron in Vietnamese
- gang thỏi
Synonyms of pig iron
- crude iron
- pig plate
Forms of pig iron
| plural | pig irons |
|---|
Origin of pig iron
From pig (“animal of the family Suidae, especially the domesticated animal Sus domesticus; oblong block of cast metal (iron or lead)”) + iron. It appears that in early use sow was used to refer to larger blocks of smelted metal and pig smaller ones. From the 17th century, the words were adapted to newer methods of iron smelting, with pig used to describe blocks formed from molten iron served from the central channel (runner) of a pig bed which were said to resemble a litter of piglets nursing from a sow.
Questions about pig iron
- What does pig iron mean?
- Pig iron means a brittle, impure form of iron produced by smelting iron ore which is often shaped into blocks; it is unsuitable for working but suitable for casting, and so is commonly used as an industrial raw material; (countable) a sample of such iron.
- What is pig iron in Hindi?
- Pig iron in Hindi is कच्चा लोहा (kaccā lohā). See Pig iron meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is pig iron?
- Pig iron is a noun.
- How do you pronounce pig iron?
- Pig iron is pronounced /ˈpɪɡ aɪən/ (UK).
- What is the plural of pig iron?
- The plural of pig iron is pig irons.
Words near pig iron in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: pig iron (page history and authors); pig iron (Tamil Wiktionary) (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:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-pig iron.wav.
Cite this entry: “pig iron.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pig_iron. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.