Oinker

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Someone who makes a sound resembling a pig's grunt or oink
2. A person who imitates the noise typical of a pig
3. An individual producing vocalizations like those of a pig

Etymology: Oinker is about as transparent as English compounds get: it is simply "oink" with the agent suffix "-er" attached, so "oinker" means one who oinks. The imitative "oink" is the part worth a closer look, since it is a sound word that English speakers coined to mimic a pig's grunt rather than something inherited from older roots. The suffix has a long and more winding history than the word itself. "-er" descends from a Proto-Germanic form, passed through Old English as "-ere," and then through Middle English as "-er." Its ancestor is the Latin suffix "-arius," which French later reshaped as "-ier" before English took the pattern back in its own spelling, so a very old Latin marker of occupation and agency sits quietly inside a playful word about a pig.

Synonyms: pig, swine, hog