Pig

豚 means “pig,” but everyday use differs by language.

An early form related to 豚 appears in oracle-bone inscriptions—ancient Chinese divination records carved on bone—in a context involving offered pig meat. The written character joins 豕, a pig component, with 肉, the flesh element written here as 月.

Modern Mandarin dictionaries give 豚 the narrower senses “piglet” or “pig”; 猪 is simplified and 豬 traditional for the ordinary word for pig. Japanese uses 豚 as its everyday written word for a pig, and in food compounds for pork.

Could 豚 insult someone in Japanese?

Yes—when it is aimed at a person.

Japanese dictionaries also record 豚 as an insult about a person’s weight. A bare 豚 directed at someone can land as a personal insult; an animal or food context points back to the literal meaning.

The Japanese proverb 豚に真珠 treats the pig as someone unable to recognize a pearl’s worth: the valuable gift is wasted on its recipient.