PIGS

The word “PIGS” means a now-outdated financial-media acronym for Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain, used during the European debt crisis to describe countries with struggling economies and heavy government debt. In plain terms, a dated economic-journalism shorthand, not the plural of the farm animal "pig" — capitalized as PIGS when used this way.

Here is “PIGS” used in a sentence: “Analysts once grouped Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain together under the label "PIGS" during the eurozone crisis.”

“PIGS” is a name.

“PIGS” is a fairly common word in modern English.

PIGS grouped Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain — euro-area economies with heavy government debt during the European debt crisis. PIIGS is the variant with a second I for Ireland, added when Ireland's finances also came under severe strain. Both were financial-media shorthand rather than official designations.

Because it likens four countries to pigs, the acronym was widely criticized as derogatory toward Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain and their citizens. Officials from the affected countries objected to it, and a number of publications chose to avoid or restrict its use.

The term is now largely outdated. It belonged to the vocabulary of the European debt crisis of the early 2010s, and as those economies stabilized the label fell out of everyday financial commentary. Today it appears mainly in retrospective discussions of that period.