bacon
English
Etymology
From Middle English bacoun (“meat from the back and sides of a pig”), from Anglo-Norman bacon, bacun (“ham, flitch, strip of lard”), from Old Low Frankish *bakō (“ham, flitch”), from Proto-Germanic *bakô, *bakkô (“back”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg- (“back, buttocks; to vault, arch”).
Cognate with Old High German bahho, bacho (“back, ham, side of bacon”) (compare Alemannic German Bache, Bachen), Old Saxon baco (“back”), Dutch bake (“side of bacon, ham”), Old English bæc (“back”). More at back.
(police): Extension of pig (“police”).
Pronunciation
- enPR: bā'kən, IPA(key): /ˈbeɪ.kən/
Audio (AU) (file) - Rhymes: -eɪkən
- Homophone: bakin' (US)
Noun
bacon (usually uncountable, plural bacons)
- Cured meat from the sides, belly, or back of a pig.
- 2006, Joanna Pruess, Seduced by Bacon, The Lyons Press, →ISBN, page 93:
- They fried the fish with bacon and were astonished, for no fish had ever seemed so delicious before.
- 2009 March 31, Laura Casey, “Piggin' out on bacon at S.F.'s BaconCamp”, in San Jose Mercury News, retrieved 2010-10-19:
- For us the pig's the means, while bacon is the end / Providing gustatory heights to which we can ascend.
- 2009 August 12, Lisa Abraham, “Bacon comes home - Old favorite tastes even better when you do the curing yourself”, in Akron Beacon Journal, Akron, Ohio, page D1:
- Bacon is something that everybody is familiar with and most people grew up eating. It has a comfort aspect to it and a familiarity. It's also got an addictive aspect to it - that sweet and salty combination of flavors. And it's probably just a little bit unhealthy for you. When you get to have bacon, it's exciting and something you look forward to.
- Thin slices of the above in long strips.
- (slang, derogatory) The police or spies.
- Run! It's the bacon!
- (cycling, slang, uncountable) Road rash.
- (military, archaic) A saucisse.
Usage notes
In the UK, the word bacon on its own usually refers specifically to loin or back bacon (similar to the US Canadian bacon). In the US, bacon usually refers to side or belly bacon (referred to as streaky bacon in the UK).
Derived terms
- back bacon
- bacon and cabbage
- bacon and eggs
- bacon beetle
- baconburger
- bacon butty
- baconed
- baconer
- bacon explosion
- bacon-faced
- bacon-fed
- bacon grease
- bacon grill
- baconize
- baconless
- baconlike
- bacon rind
- bacon square
- baconweed
- bacony
- bring home the bacon
- Canadian bacon
- carrot bacon
- chawbacon
- cottage bacon
- eggs and bacon
- facon
- fakon
- fry someone's bacon
- good voice to beg bacon
- Irish bacon
- macon
- peameal bacon
- pig upon bacon
- pull someone's bacon out of the fire
- save someone's bacon
- side bacon
- side of bacon
- steal the bacon
- streaky bacon
- turkey bacon
- whale bacon
- white bacon
Related terms
Descendants
- → Bulgarian: бекон (bekon)
- → Finnish: pekoni
- → French: bacon
- → Hebrew: בייקון
- → Italian: beicon
- → Japanese: ベーコン (bēkon)
- → Maori: pēkana
- → Maltese: bejken
- → Norwegian Bokmål: bacon, beiken
- → Norwegian Nynorsk: bacon, beiken
- → Polish: bekon
- → Portuguese: bacon
- → Russian: бекон (bekon)
- → Spanish: bacon, beicon
- → Swedish: bacon
Translations
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See also
French
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English bacon, from Middle English bacon (“meat from the back and sides of a pig”), from Old French bacon, bacun (“ham, strip of lard”), from Frankish *bakkō, from Proto-Germanic *bakō, *baką, *bakaz (“back”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg- (“back, buttocks; to vault, arch”).
Attested since 1899.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /be.kɔn/, /be.kœn/
audio (France, Paris) (file) audio (France, Paris) (file) audio (France, Normandie) (file)
Further reading
- “bacon”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Italian
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈbɛ.kon/
- Rhymes: -ɛkon
Further reading
Middle English
Norwegian Bokmål
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /beːkən/, /bæjkən/
- Rhymes: -eːkən, -æjkən
References
- “bacon” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Norwegian Nynorsk
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈbɛɪːkən/, /ˈbeːkən/
- Rhymes: -ɛɪːkən, -eːkən
References
- “bacon” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
Old French
Etymology
From Frankish *bakō, from Proto-Germanic *bakô.
Portuguese
Pronunciation
- (Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈbej.kõ/ [ˈbeɪ̯.kõ]
- (Portugal) IPA(key): /ˈbɐj.kɔn/
- (Northern Portugal) IPA(key): /ˈbej.kɔn/
- (Central Portugal) IPA(key): /ˈbej.kɔn/
- (Southern Portugal) IPA(key): /ˈbe.kɔn/
See also
Romanian
Spanish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈbeikon/ [ˈbei̯.kõn]
- Rhymes: -eikon
Usage notes
According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.
Swedish
Declension
Declension of bacon | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Uncountable | ||||
Indefinite | Definite | |||
Nominative | bacon | baconet | — | — |
Genitive | bacons | baconets | — | — |