What does pigging mean?
Pigging most commonly means using trained pigs to locate truffles buried in the ground. Pigs have a powerful sense of smell and can detect the fungi through soil, making their work valuable in regions where truffles are traditionally harvested. The term can also denote the mating of pigs, and in informal British English it has long been used as a euphemism or blunt term for sexual intercourse. A typical example of the best-known sense is the annual practice of taking pigs into woodland to search for buried truffles, often with handlers directing the animals and collecting the fungi they uncover. Although the activity sounds unusual today, it is closely associated with longstanding European truffle traditions and continues as a distinctive form of agricultural work. The word also illustrates how ordinary animal vocabulary can acquire both technical and colloquial meanings.
The use of trained pigs to locate and unearth truffles; also, in technical use, the mating of pigs.
"The annual pigging begins after the first autumn rains soften the soil."
Usually uncountable. The truffle-hunting sense is now the most familiar in general English.
To locate truffles using trained pigs; also, of pigs, to mate; informally, to engage in sexual intercourse.
"The handlers spent the morning pigging for truffles in the oak grove."
The informal sexual sense is chiefly British and should be used with attention to register.
As a noun, pigging is normally uncountable and therefore has no separate plural form.
"Traditional pigging remains important in several European truffle-producing regions."
A pig’s exceptional sense of smell can reveal a buried truffle that would otherwise remain hidden.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of pigging
Pigging is formed from the verb pig, which comes from Middle English pigge and ultimately from Old English pigg, a word of uncertain origin. The older English animal name belongs to a broader Germanic vocabulary for pigs, although its precise development is not fully clear. The specialized truffle-hunting meaning developed from the close working relationship between people and trained pigs in traditional European truffle regions.
Related word forms
How pigging is actually used
In modern English, pigging most often refers to the traditional use of pigs to find truffles. The animal-mating sense is technical but uncommon, while the sexual sense is informal and may be crude depending on context.
Easily confused with pigging
Pigging concerns pigs or the activity of pigs, whereas picking means selecting or gathering something such as fruit, flowers, or a lock.