Word of the day - خِنْزِر (ḫinzīr)

خِنْزِر (ḫinzīr) is the Arabic word for pig, usually refer to the species Sus scrofa and its subspecies.

The word for pig in most of the semitic languages share common etymology with Arabic wordخِنْزِر, cf. Hebrew חֲזִיר (ḥazīr), Syriac ܚܙܝܼܪܵܐ (ḥzīrā), Ugaritic ḫuzīru, Ge'ez ḫanzir, Akkadian ḫuzīru, all ultimately from Proto-Semitic *ḫuzīr.

In Malay language, the word for pig is babi, but this word is considered as more vulgar than the Arabic loan word khinzir.

Although pig, sow, boar or related animals are considered as unclean in Judaism and Islam, other religions might consider otherwise. The Hindu god Vishnu's third avatar, Varaha, appeared in the form of a boar. Vajravarahi, also known as Dorje Phagmo, a dakini in Vajrayana Buddhism, is associated with sow. In some versions of Greek mythology, Zeus was nursed by a sow. Nut, the Egyptian goddess of sky, was also represented by images of sow.

2007 is also the year of the pig, or more precisely, the year of the fire pig according to Chinese lunar calendar, which will begin at 18th of February. Famous people who were born in the year of the pig include Kublai Khan, Alfred Hitchcock, Lee Kuan Yew, Arnold Schwazenegger, Tenzin Gyatso (the current Dalai Lama), Chiang Kai-shek, Woody Allen and Carlos Santana.