piggy back
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Puzzle #267 · February 23, 2026
Piggyback has nothing to do with pigs. The word originally meant to carry someone on your back, and it came from ‘pick-pack’ or ‘pickapack’ (1560s), where ‘pick’ meant pitch or throw. Over centuries of mishearing, people started to think it sounded like ‘picky-back,’ which then became ‘piggy-back’ by the 1800s.
The pig is a complete linguistic accident—a ghost word that got trapped in the English language by human ears mishearing. We use it as a verb now when we say ‘let's piggyback off that idea’—meaning latch onto someone else's work. But the original meaning was simpler: it's about carrying something or someone else's burden on your shoulders. The misheard animal just stuck around for 400 years. See more at etymonline.
The pig is a complete linguistic accident—a ghost word that got trapped in the English language by human ears mishearing. We use it as a verb now when we say ‘let's piggyback off that idea’—meaning latch onto someone else's work. But the original meaning was simpler: it's about carrying something or someone else's burden on your shoulders. The misheard animal just stuck around for 400 years. See more at etymonline.
Puzzle Appearances
The expression piggy back has appeared in 1 puzzle:
- Puzzle #267 on February 23, 2026
Rate of Appearance in English Language Print
Google's Ngram project shows how often a pair of words has appeared in print every year since the 1800's.
Data from Google Books Ngram Viewer. Licensed under CC BY 3.0.
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