pigg

See also: Pigg, PIgG, and pIgG

English

Alternative forms

• pig, pyg

Etymology

Uncertain. Perhaps from pig (“swine”), due to the shape. Compare also Middle English pig (“a container for wine; the hide of a pig used as a wineskin”), from pigge (“pig”). More at pig.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɪɡ/
• Homophone: pig

Noun

pigg (plural piggs)

1. (Northern England, Scotland) A piggin (“an earthenware vessel, jar, crock”).
   • 1818 July 25, Jedadiah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], Tales of My Landlord, Second Series, […] (The Heart of Mid-Lothian), volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Company, →OCLC:

     lying useless here in this auld pigg

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “pigg”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse pík f.

Noun

pigg m (definite singular piggen, indefinite plural pigger, definite plural piggene)

1. a spike
2. a stud (e.g. on a studded tyre)
3. a spine or quill (on an animal)
4. a barb (on barbed wire)

Derived terms

• piggdekk
• piggrokke
• piggsvin
• piggtråd

References

• “pigg” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse pík f.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɪɡː/

Noun

pigg m (definite singular piggen, indefinite plural piggar, definite plural piggane)

1. a spike
2. a stud (e.g. on a studded tyre)
3. a spine or quill (on an animal)
4. a barb (on barbed wire)

Derived terms

• piggdekk
• piggsvin
• piggtråd

References

• “pigg” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Swedish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɪɡː/

• Audio (Gotland):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪɡ

Etymology 1

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Adjective

pigg (comparative piggare, superlative piggast)

1. alert, fresh (often after sleeping, as opposed to drowsy)

   Jag är inte riktigt vaken än. Inte riktigt pigg.

   I haven't quite woken up yet. I'm not really alert.

   Jag är pigg och utvilad

   I feel rested and refreshed [fresh and rested]

   Som flygledare är det viktigt att vara pigg och alert på jobbet

   As an air traffic controller, it's important to be fresh and alert at work

   se pigg och fräsch ut

   look bright and fresh

   1. healthy

      Hon är inte riktigt pigg än, så hon är hemma från skolan idag också

      She's not quite recovered yet, so she's home from school today as well

      Jag känner mig lite piggare idag

      I'm feeling a bit better today

      Idag är Fido pigg igen, som ni ser

      Today Fido is up and alert again, as you can see

      Drottningen är pigg och kry igen och höll ett tal vid ceremonin

      The queen is back on her feet [fresh and well again] and gave a speech at the ceremony

   2. lively, active

      pigga små hundvalpar

      lively little pups

      pigga pensionärer

      active retirees

      pigga ögon

      bright eyes

      pigga färger

      fresh colors (figurative)

      1. spry

         en pigg 90-åring

         a spry 90-year-old

2. (only used predicatively, with på) up for, keen on (wanting)

   Vi tänkte gå på bio. Är du pigg på att hänga med?

   We thought we'd go to the cinema. Are you up for joining us?

   Jag vet inte om jag är så pigg på det

   I don't know if I'm up for it

Usage notes

The contemporary intuition of native speakers is that the basic meaning of pigg is alert in the sense of not drowsy, lethargic, or the like. Other senses are intuitively by idiomatic implication – calling old people and pups "alert" in that sense instead of "spry" or "lively," etc.

Declension

Inflection of pigg

Indefinite	positive	comparative	superlative1
common singular	pigg	piggare	piggast
neuter singular	piggt	piggare	piggast
plural	pigga	piggare	piggast
masculine plural2	pigge	piggare	piggast
Definite	positive	comparative	superlative
masculine singular3	pigge	piggare	piggaste
all	pigga	piggare	piggaste

¹ The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.
² Dated or archaic.
³ Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.

Derived terms

• Musse Pigg (“Mickey Mouse”)
• morgonpigg
• pigga upp (“cheer up, stimulate”)
• pigg som en lärka
• pigg som en mört
• piggna till (“become alert”)

See also

• alert
• vaken

Etymology 2

From Old Swedish pigger, perhaps from Old Norse píkr (“nail, spike”). Cognate with Danish pig. Related also to Swedish pik and Old Norse pík.

Noun

pigg c

1. a (small) spike
2. a spine, a thorn, a quill

   Synonym: (more common) tagg

Usage notes

• Sometimes used of pins on power plugs, pin headers, and the like, though stift is considered more proper.
• Also sometimes used of for example small teeth (tänder) on gears, "pins" on brushes (which might be called for example metallborst (metal bristles) instead), and studs on Lego bricks (officially pluppar). Might sometimes be a catchall when unable to think of a better term for a small spike or pin.

Declension

Declension of pigg

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	pigg	piggs
	definite	piggen	piggens
plural	indefinite	piggar	piggars
	definite	piggarna	piggarnas

See also

• pinne

References

• pigg in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• pigg in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• pigg in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
• pigg in Reverso Context (Swedish-English)