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Word of the Week (150): GRUMPHIE (probability 26376), by David Sutton

GRUMPHIE (or GRUMPHY) is a wonderfully onomatopoeic Scots word for a pig, capturing exactly that cross between a grunt and a snuffle that a pig makes when hoovering up the ground. Another Scots word for a pig is GUFFIE.

As far as domestic breeds of pig go, we have LANDRACE, CHESHIRE, DUROC, TAMWORTH and SADDLEBACK, while names for wild pigs include JAVELINA, PECCARY, KUNEKUNE, BUSHPIG and BOSHVARK (or BOSCHVARK).

A young pig, especially one that has just been weaned, is a SHOAT (or SHOTE or SHOTTE).

SUID mean any member of the pig family, wild or domestic, and this gives an adjective SUIDIAN. SUILLINE means like a pig.

Finally, the collective name for wild boar is SOUNDER, so, in case you thought this was just the comparative of the adjective, remember that you can put an S on it.

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