pig in a poke

English

Etymology

Reportedly from the practice of substituting a butchered cat, etc. for a suckling pig when sold in a sack at a market. Other theories circulate but all involve the purchase of a cat in a bag, where the buyer expected better.

poke refers to a bag or sack, and is related to pouch.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

pig in a poke (plural pigs in a poke or pigs in pokes)

1. (idiomatic) Something whose true value is concealed or unknown and may be lower than expected by the buyer or claimed by the seller, especially something offered for sale.

Translations

something whose true value is concealed or unknown

• Albanian: derr në thes
• Arabic: سَمَك فِي مَاء pl (samak fī māʔ, literally “fish in the water”)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 瞎買東西／瞎买东西 (xiā mǎi dōngxi, literally “to shop blindly”), 隔山買牛／隔山买牛 (zh) (géshān mǎi niú, literally “buy a cow over there in another mountain”)

• Czech: zajíc v pytli m (literally “rabbit in a bag”)
• Dutch: een kat in de zak kopen (nl)
• Estonian: siga kotis
• Finnish: sika säkissä (idiomatic)
• French: acheter chat en poche (fr)
• German: Katze im Sack (de) f (literally “cat in the bag”)
• Greek: γουρούνι στο σακί (gouroúni sto sakí, literally “pig in a sack”)
• Hebrew: חתול בשק (he)
• Hungarian: zsákbamacska (hu)
• Icelandic: kötturinn í sekknum (is) m
• Indonesian: kucing dalam karung
• Japanese: 衝動買い (ja) (しょうどうがい, shōdōgai) (impulsive buying)
• Latvian: kaķis maisā m (cat in a bag), cūka maisā
• Norwegian: katten i sekken (no)
• Polish: kot w worku (pl) m (literally “cat in a bag”)
• Portuguese: nabos em saco m pl (literally “bagged turnips”)
• Russian: кот в мешке́ (ru) m (kot v mešké, literally “cat in a bag”)
• Spanish: dar gato por liebre
• Swedish: grisen i säcken (sv)
• Welsh: prynu cath mewn cwd

See also

• puss in a bag
• sell someone a pup
• I have a bridge to sell you
• let the cat out of the bag