Standard Lemma guide

hogwash

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈhɒɡ.wɒʃ/
  • General-American: /ˈhɔɡ.wɑʃ/
  • cot-caught-merger: /ˈhɑɡ.wɑʃ/
  • US: cot-caught Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɒɡwɒʃ
  • CMU ARPABET: HH AA1 G W AA2 SH Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Foolish talk or writing; nonsense.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: figuratively, informal, uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: hogshit, bullshit, absurdity, all my eye, all my eye and Betty Martin, applesauce, bafflegab, balderdash, balls, baloney, banana oil, Bandini, baragouin, batcrap, batshit, bilgewater, blah, blather, blatherskite, bobbins, bollocks, bosh, BS, bull, bullcrap, bulldust, bull feathers, bullspeak, bunk, bunkum, bushwah, clamjamfrey, claptrap, cobblers, codswallop, crap, crock, crock of shit, double Dutch, double talk, doublespeak, dribble, drivel, eyewash, fiddle-faddle, flapdoodle, flim-flam, flizz, flummery, folderol, foolishness, footle, framis, fuckery, fuckry, fudge, galimatias, Gallophone, garbage, garble, gash, gibber, gibberish, gobbledygook, gossip, Greek, guff, gup, hoax, hocus-pocus, hogwash, hokum, hooey, horse cock, horsefeathers, horse hockey, horse piss, horse puckey, horseshit, humbug, Irish bull, jabber, jabberwocky, jargon, jibber-jabber, jimjam, jive, junk, lallation, macaroni, malarkey, manure, meaninglessness, moonshine, mumbo jumbo, nertz, nonsense, pie in the sky, piffle, pigswill, poppycock, prattle, put-on, rhubarb, rhubarb rhubarb, rigmarole, rot, rubbish, ruse, santorum, shit, shite, skimble-skamble, squit, stuff, stuff and nonsense, tommy-rot, tosh, trittle trattle, tush, trash, tripe, twaddle, wass, whiff-whaff, word salad

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A mixture of solid and liquid food scraps fed to pigs; swill.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

Qualifier: literal

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: slop, slops, swill

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

unacceptable behavior (especially ludicrously false statements)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: bunk, bunkum, buncombe, guff, rot

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: drivel, garbage

Narrower terms: bullshit, bull, Irish bull, horseshit, shit, crap, dogshit

History

Etymology

From Middle English *hoggewasch (found only as Middle English hoggyswasch (“refuse of the kitchen for feeding pigs”, literally “hog's wash”)), equivalent to hog + wash.

Across languages

Translations

42 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: глу́пости (glúposti) — nonsense
  • Catalan: absurditat — nonsense
  • Dutch: prietpraat — nonsense
  • Esperanto: stultaĵo — nonsense
  • Esperanto: nekompreneblaĵo — nonsense
  • Esperanto: volapukaĵo — nonsense
  • Finnish: pötypuhe — nonsense
  • Finnish: hölynpöly — nonsense
  • French: baratin — nonsense
  • French: boniment — nonsense
  • German: Quatsch — nonsense
  • German: Unsinn — nonsense
  • Greek: κουραφέξαλα (kouraféxala) — nonsense
  • Ido: sensencajo — nonsense
  • Italian: cazzata — nonsense
  • Italian: stupidaggine — nonsense
  • Italian: corbelleria — nonsense
  • Italian: minchiata — nonsense
  • Portuguese: disparate — nonsense
  • Russian: бред си́вой кобы́лы (bred sívoj kobýly) — nonsense
  • Russian: вздор (vzdor) — nonsense
  • Russian: ерунда́ (jerundá) — nonsense
  • Russian: глу́пости (glúposti) — nonsense
  • Russian: фигня́ (fignjá) — nonsense
  • Spanish: tonterías — nonsense
  • Spanish: paparruchas — nonsense
  • Spanish: sinsentido — nonsense
  • Swedish: strunt — nonsense
  • Ottoman Turkish: صاچمه (saçma) — nonsense
  • Yiddish: שטותים (shtusem) — nonsense
  • Yiddish: נאַרישקייטן (narishkeytn) — nonsense
  • Yiddish: קוואַטש (kvatsh) — nonsense
  • Bulgarian: помия (pomija) — scraps fed to pigs
  • Chinese Mandarin: 泔水 (gānshuǐ) — scraps fed to pigs
  • Italian: pastone — scraps fed to pigs
  • Italian: intruglio — scraps fed to pigs
  • Italian: avanzi — scraps fed to pigs
  • Italian: sbobba — scraps fed to pigs
  • Russian: помо́и (pomói) — scraps fed to pigs
  • Slovak: pomyje — scraps fed to pigs
  • Slovak: zvyšky — scraps fed to pigs
  • Spanish: bazofia — scraps fed to pigs