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cochon

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Etymology and origin of the French word cochon

Confidence
Uncertain
Formation
Onomatopoeia, Derivation
First attested
1268–1271 Étienne Boileau, Livre des métiers More words from the 13th century

Pronunciation

  • /kɔ.ʃɔ̃/[1]

Forms

cochon m (plural cochons, feminine cochonne)[1] 16th-century couchon and coychon;[2] Burgundy and Berry have couchon.[2]

Etymology

The origin is obscure.[3][4][5] The TLFi, the DHLF and Bloch and Wartburg think it was probably formed with the suffix -on from the imitative call /koʃ/, which echoes the pig's grunt and was used to call pigs;[3][4][6][7] Wiktionary also calls it imitative.[1] goret is a parallel formation.[3]

An etymon Late Latin cutio (“woodlouse”) (Ménage) is rejected on grounds of sound and sense: the woodlouse is more easily named after the pig than the reverse.[3][4][6] Bloch and Wartburg also report a derivation from coche “notch”, as castrated pigs were often marked with a notch in the ear,[6] and the Grand Robert mentions Pierre Guiraud's comparison of the word for “sow” with that for the hip of the wild rose.[8] Littré connected it with the noun for “sow”.[2]

The word is mostly northern;[6] Spanish has cochino.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as a proper name in 1091, in the Cartulary of Redon.[3][4] As a common noun it first appears in Étienne Boileau's Livre des métiers (1268–1271), meaning a young pig, a sense that cochon kept, as against porc, until the 17th century.[3][4][6]

Semantic evolution

Cotgrave (1611) records it for the full-grown pig,[3][4] and in the 16th century Olivier de Serres still uses couchons for young pigs set against grands pourceaux.[2] The figurative sense “coarse person, physically or morally” appears at the end of the 17th century, in Mme de Sévigné, mostly in comparisons such as … comme un cochon.[3][4]

The adjective cochon, cochonne (1611 in Rey; isolated in the 17th century in the TLFi, then 1850) denotes both dirtiness and disapproved sexual behaviour, and is used of things too, as in cinéma cochon “pornographic films”.[4][3] The noun took the same senses, a very dirty person or a lewd one, often as an insult; the feminine is used more for dirtiness.[4] Derivatives followed the same path: cochonner “to farrow” (1403), then “to botch, to dirty” (1808), and cochonnerie “indecent act” (1688).[4][6]

Timeline

  • 1091 – Cochon as a proper name, in the Cartulary of Redon.[3]
  • 1268–1271 – Étienne Boileau uses it for a young pig.[3]
  • 13th century – The diminutive cochonnet.[4]
  • 1403 – Cochonner “to farrow”.[4]
  • 1611 – Cotgrave records the sense “adult pig”.[3]
  • late 17th century – Mme de Sévigné uses it of a coarse person.[3]
  • 1688 – Cochonnerie “indecent act”.[4]
  • 1850 – The adjective in the sense “indecent, risqué”.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A pig (porc), especially one raised for food: cochon de lait “sucking pig”.[5][9][10]
  2. (familiar) Pork, the meat of the pig.[10][9]
  3. Cochon d’Inde: the guinea pig, cobaye.[10][5]
  4. (familiar) A dirty person, or one who makes a mess.[5][1]
  5. (familiar) A person fond of obscenities: un vieux cochon.[5][4]
  6. (familiar) A coarse or unscrupulous person;[5][1] tour de cochon, a dirty trick.[5][1]

Adjective

  1. (familiar) smutty, indecent, pornographic: une histoire cochonne.[5][1][4]
  2. C’est pas cochon (familiar): it is very good.[5][11]

Word family

  • cochonner
  • cochonnerie
  • cochonnet
  • cochonnée
  • cochonnaille
  • porc
  • goret
  • Spanish cochino

Usage notes

Familiar phrases include copains comme cochons “as thick as thieves” and nous n’avons pas gardé les cochons ensemble, said to refuse undue familiarity.[10][5][2] The woodlouse is called cochon de saint Antoine.[3][4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 1254b
  8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
  10. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  11. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
Cite this entry

“Cochon.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/cochon. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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