bacon

See also: Bacon, bacón, baćon, báçoⁿ, and bà con

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

Raw belly bacon or streaky bacon, usually referred to simply as bacon in the US

Raw back bacon, usually referred to simply as bacon in the UK

bacon (usually uncountable, plural bacons)

Cured meat from the sides, belly, or back of a pig.
- 2006, Pruess, Joanna, 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, Casey, Laura, “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, Abraham, Lisa, “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).

Synonyms

(cut of meat from a pig): ham, pork

Derived terms

back bacon
bacon and cabbage
bacon and eggs
bacon beetle
bacon butty
bacon explosion
bacon-faced
bacon-fed
bacon fed
bacon grease
bacon grill
bacon rind
bacony
bring home the bacon
Canadian bacon
cottage bacon
eggs and bacon
fry someone's bacon
get the bacon bad
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
streaky bacon
turkey bacon
whale bacon
white bacon

Related terms

back

Descendants

→ Finnish: pekoni
→ French: bacon
→ Italian: beicon
→ Japanese: ベーコン (bēkon)
→ Maori: pēkana
→ Maltese: bejken
→ Norwegian Bokmål: bacon, beiken
→ Norwegian Nynorsk: bacon, beiken
→ Polish: bekon
→ Portuguese: bacon, beicon
→ Russian: бекон (bekon)
→ Spanish: bacon, beicon
→ Swedish: bacon

Translations

cut of meat

Afrikaans: spek
Arabic: بَاكُون‎ m (bākūn), بَيْكُون‎ m (baykūn)
Armenian: բեկոն (hy) (bekon)
Belarusian: беко́н m (bjekón)
Bengali: বেকন (bekônô)
Bulgarian: беко́н (bg) m (bekón), слани́на (bg) f (slanína)
Burmese: ဘေကွန် (bhe-kwan)
Catalan: cansalada (ca) f
Chickasaw: shokha' nipi' shila'
Chinese:
Cantonese: 煙肉, 烟肉 (jin¹ juk⁶)
Mandarin: 熏鹹肉／熏咸肉 (xūn xiánròu), 培根 (zh) (péigēn), 燻肉／熏肉 (zh), 熏肉 (xūnròu), 鹹肉／咸肉 (zh) (xiánròu)
Cornish: kig mogh m
Czech: slanina (cs) f
Danish: flæsk n
Dutch: bacon (nl) m
Esperanto: lardo (eo)
Estonian: peekon (et)
Finnish: kylki (fi)
French: lard (fr) m, lardon (fr) m
Galician: touciño (gl) m, panceta (gl) f, lardo (gl) m, cebullo m
Georgian: ბეკონი (beḳoni)
German: Speck (de) m
Greek: μπέικον (el) n (béikon)
Hebrew: קותל חזיר‎ m (kótel ḥazzír), קָתְלֵי חֲזִיר‎ (he) m pl (kotléy ḥazzír)
Hindi: बेकन (bekan)
Hungarian: szalonna (hu), császárszalonna (hu), baconszalonna, kolozsvári szalonna, angolszalonna (hu)
Icelandic: flesk (is) n, beikon (is) n
Ido: lardo (io)
Indonesian: daging babi asap, daging asap (id)
Irish: bagún m, muiceoil shaillte f
Italian: pancetta (it) f
Japanese: ベーコン (ja) (bēkon)
Kazakh: бекон (bekon)
Khmer: សាច់បីជាន់ (sac bəy coan), សាច់ជ្រូកបីជាន់ (sac cruuk bəy coan), សាច់ជ្រូកខ្វៃ (sac cruuk kvay)
Korean: 베이컨 (beikeon)
Kyrgyz: бекон (bekon)
Ladin: ciociul m
Latin: laridum
Latvian: speķis m
Lithuanian: bekonas m
Macedonian: сланина f (slanina)
Malay: bakon, dendeng babi
Maltese: bejken
Maori: pēkana
Middle English: bacoun, lard
Mongolian: утсан гахайн мах (utsan gaxajn max)
Navajo: bisóodi, bisóodi bitsįʼ niheeshchʼiizhígíí
North Frisian: speek
Norwegian:
Bokmål: (røykt) flesk n, bacon (no) n
Nynorsk: (røykt) flesk n, bacon n
Old English: spiċ n
Persian: بیکن‎ (beyken), لارد‎ (lârd)
Plautdietsch: Spakj m
Polish: boczek (pl) m (streaky bacon), bekon (pl) m (back bacon)
Portuguese: toucinho defumado, bacon (pt) m
Romanian: bacon (ro) n, slănină (ro) f, lard (ro)
Romansch: charnpiertg f
Russian: беко́н (ru) m (bekón), ветчина́ (ru) f (vetčiná) (ham)
Scottish Gaelic: feòil-mhuice f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: сланина f
Roman: slanina (sh) f
Sinhalese: බේකන් (bēkan)
Slovak: slanina f
Slovene: slanina (sl) f
Spanish: tocino (es) m, (Cuba, Spain, Dominican Republic) beicon m, (Colombia, Dominican Republic, Venezuela) tocineta f, (Argentina, Uruguay) panceta ahumada f, bacón (es) m
Swedish: bacon (sv) n
Thai: เบคอน (bee-kɔ̂n)
Turkish: domuz pastırması
Ukrainian: беко́н (uk) m (bekón)
Urdu: بیکن‎ (bekan)
Uzbek: bekon
Vietnamese: thịt muối, thịt lợn muối xông khói
Volapük: pined (vo), (pig) svinapined, (cattle) bubapined
Welsh: cig moch (cy), bacwn m
Yiddish: שפּעק‎ m (shpek)

thin slice of pork

Bulgarian: бекон (bg) (bekon)
Chickasaw: shokha' nipi' shila'
Finnish: pekoni (fi), silava (fi)
Galician: gulerpa f
Greek: μπέικον (el) n (béikon)
Hebrew: קותל חזיר‎ m (kótel ḥazzír)
Maori: pēkana
Norwegian:
Bokmål: bacon (no) n
Nynorsk: bacon n
Old English: spiċ n
Spanish: tocino (es) m
Swedish: bacon (sv) n
Turkish: jambon (tr)

Anagrams

Bonac, banco

French

Etymology

1899, "thin, smoked lard", 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”).

Cognate with Old High German bahho, bacho (“back, ham, side of bacon”), Old Saxon baco (“back”), Dutch bake (“side of bacon, ham”), Old English bæc (“back”). More at back.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /be.kɔn/, /be.kœn/
audio (France, Paris) (file)
audio (France, Paris) (file)
audio (France, Normandie) (file)

Noun

bacon m (uncountable)

bacon

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English bacon.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈbɛ.kon/
Rhymes: -ɛkon

Noun

bacon m (invariable)

bacon
Synonym: pancetta

Anagrams

Banco, banco, bancò

Middle English

Noun

bacon

Alternative form of bacoun

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

Borrowed from English bacon.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /beːkən/, /bæjkən/
Rhymes: -eːkən, -æjkən

Noun

bacon n (definite singular baconet)

bacon

References

“bacon” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Borrowed from English bacon.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈbɛɪːkən/, /ˈbeːkən/
Rhymes: -ɛɪːkən, -eːkən

Noun

bacon n (definite singular baconet)

bacon

References

“bacon” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old French

Alternative forms

bacon, bacun, bacoun

Etymology

From Frankish *bakō, from Proto-Germanic *bakô.

Noun

bacon m (oblique plural bacons, nominative singular bacons, nominative plural bacon)

bacon, salted pork, ham, shank (of a pig)

Descendants

Middle French: bacon
Picard: bacôn (Athois)
→ Middle English: bacoun
- English: bacon (see there for further descendants)
- Scots: baucon
- Yola: bawkoon, bawcoon, bacoon, bakoon

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English bacon.

Pronunciation

(Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈbej.kõ/ [ˈbeɪ̯.kõ]

(Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈbɐj.kɔn/
- (Central Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈbej.kɔn/
- (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈbe.kɔn/

Noun

bacon m (plural bacons)

bacon (cured meat from the belly, sides or back of a pig)

Romanian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English bacon.

Noun

bacon n (uncountable)

bacon

Declension

declension of bacon (singular only)

	singular
n gender	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) bacon	baconul
genitive/dative	(unui) bacon	baconului
vocative	baconule

Spanish

Etymology

From English bacon.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈbeikon/ [ˈbei̯.kõn]
Rhymes: -eikon

Noun

bacon m (plural bacons)

bacon

Swedish

Etymology

From English bacon.

Noun

bacon n

bacon

Declension

Declension of bacon
	Uncountable
	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	bacon	baconet	—	—
Genitive	bacons	baconets	—	—

bacon

English

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Usage notes

Synonyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

Translations

See also

Anagrams

French

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Further reading

Italian

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Anagrams

Middle English

Noun

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

References

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

References

Old French

Alternative forms

Etymology

Noun

Descendants

Portuguese

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

See also

Romanian

Etymology

Noun

Declension

Spanish

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Swedish

Etymology

Noun

Declension