Piggy bank

A piggy bank is a pig-shaped, metal, ceramic, or plastic container with a slit in the back, in which coins can be saved. Piggy banks were first attested in this sense from 1900. A great deal of nonsense has been written about the origin mainly because of some confusion with a very much earlier form of ‘pig’, which, from the 1450s, was a generic name for all types of earthenware pots, jars, and drinking vessels. The OED confirms that this usage of pig is of unknown origin, that such earthenware was indeed called ‘pig pots’ and ‘pig jars’, and may well have been used to keep or save coins. ‘Pig’ in this sense, however, referred to the reddish clay used in making ‘pig’ earthenware and the association with piggy banks is coincidental as well as unproven. There is also some evidence that pig-shaped containers for saving money may have been used in several Asian cultures long before piggy banks became popular in Britain and America but, again, this is coincidence and is not the origin. ‘Piggy’ as a diminutive, is children’s nursery talk that dates from the late 18th century and so it was only natural that when piggy banks first started to appear during the late 19th/early 20th century, they were, and still are, popular with children in helping to encourage money-saving habits.