Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

pig iron

/ˈpɪɡ ˌaɪ(ə)ɹn/

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.04 in modern English

Syllables: pig -iron
IPA: /ˈpɪɡ ˌaɪ(ə)ɹn/

10

Scrabble Score

7

Letters

2

Syllables

6

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A brittle, impure form of iron produced by smelting iron ore which is often shaped into blocks; it is unsuitable for working but suitable for casting, and so is commonly used as an industrial raw material; (countable) a sample of such iron.

Uncountable

noun

An iron plate which is hung between a piece of meat and the fire used to cook it to prevent the meat from burning if the fire is too hot.

Countable; Obsolete

Example Sentences

"We spent a lot of time up on the staging of the great furnaces, trying to pick up the tricks of the trade from the taciturn furnacemen who sat around placidly smoking, or chewing twist, and occasionally throwing in more pig iron to the molten white-hot metal."

Etymology

From pig (“animal of the family Suidae, especially the domesticated animal Sus domesticus; oblong block of cast metal (iron or lead)”) + iron. It appears that in early use sow was used to refer to larger blocks of smelted metal and pig smaller ones. From the 17th century, the words were adapted to newer methods of iron smelting, with pig used to describe blocks formed from molten iron served from the central channel (runner) of a pig bed which were said to resemble a litter of piglets nursing from a sow.

Word Breakdown

Root: *bew-

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˈpɪɡ ˌaɪ(ə)ɹn/
British English: /ˈpɪɡ aɪən/

Usage

Inflected Forms

pig irons (plural)

Phrases

pig bed puddled bar

Frequently Paired Words

pig bed puddled bar cast iron wrought iron

Synonyms

crude iron pig plate

Questions

How do you pronounce pig iron?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈpɪɡ ˌaɪ(ə)ɹn/.
What does pig iron mean?: A brittle, impure form of iron produced by smelting iron ore which is often shaped into blocks; it is unsuitable for working but suitable for casting, and so is commonly used as an industrial raw material; (countable) a sample of such iron.
Where does pig iron come from?: From pig (“animal of the family Suidae, especially the domesticated animal Sus domesticus; oblong block of cast metal (iron or lead)”) + iron. It appears that in early use sow was used to refer to larger blocks of smelted metal and pig smaller ones. From the 17th century, the words were adapted to newer methods of iron smelting, with pig used to describe blocks formed from molten iron served from the central channel (runner) of a pig bed which were said to resemble a litter of piglets nursing from a sow.

How to pronounce pig iron

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