Pig in a poke

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A pig in a poke. Whist, whist by Samuel William Fores, 1788

Pig in a poke is an English idiom which means a kind of deceptive trick. It is a blind bargain.[1]

The phrase is about something which is offered for sale in a manner which hides its true value. The idiom means a purchase which turns out not to be what the seller claimed it was.[2]

History[change | change source]

The term "pig in a poke" was first used in the Middle Ages.[3] At this time, it was common to sell meat or small animals in cloth bags or sacks called a "poke".[4]

Sometimes people simply bought the "poke" without looking inside; and sometimes people who thought they were buying pork or a small pig were surprised to find they had been sold something else.

The idiom pig in a poke is about what happens when someone does not look to see what is being bought or sold.[5]

Meaning[change | change source]


The phrase can also be applied to accepting an idea or plan without a full understanding of it. In other words, it is about starting a course of action without knowing the relevant facts.[6]

Many other European languages have a version of this phrase, but many are translated as a warning not to buy a cat in a bag.[7] -

Language Phrase Translation
Bulgarian да купиш котка в торба to buy a cat in a bag
Catalan Donar/Prendre gat per llebre to give/to take cat instead of hare
Chinese 挂羊头卖狗肉 sell dog meat as mutton
Croatian kupiti mačka u vreći to buy a cat in a sack
Czech koupit zajíce v pytli to buy a hare in a sack
Danish at købe katten i sækken to buy the cat in the sack
Dutch een kat in de zak kopen to buy a cat in the sack
Estonian ostma põrsast kotis to buy a piglet in a sack
French acheter un chat dans un sac
acheter chat en poche
to buy a cat in a bag[8]
Finnish ostaa sika säkissä to buy a pig in a sack
German Die Katze im Sack kaufen to buy the cat in the sack[8]
Greek αγοράζω γουρούνι στο σακκί to buy a pig in a sack
Hebrew חתול בשק cat in a sack
Hungarian zsákbamacska cat in a sack
Icelandic að kaupa köttinn í sekknum to buy the cat in the sack
Indonesian kucing dalam karung cat in a sack
Irish ceannaigh muc i mála buying a pig in a bag
Italian comperare un gatto in sacco buying a cat in a sack[8]
Latvian pirkt kaķi maisā to buy a cat in a sack
Lithuanian pirkti katę maiše to buy a cat in a sack
Luxembourgish d'Kaz am Sak kafen to buy the cat in a sack
Macedonian да купиш мачка во вреќа to buy the cat in the sack
Norwegian kjøpe katta i sekken to buy the cat in the sack
Polish kupić kota w worku to buy a cat in a sack
Portuguese comprar gato por lebre to buy a cat instead of a hare
Romanian cumperi mâța în sac to buy the cat in the bag
Russian купить кота в мешке to buy a cat in a sack
Spanish dar gato por liebre to give a cat instead of a hare
Spanish hay gato encerrado there is a cat shut inside
Serbian купити мачку у џаку to buy a cat in a sack
Slovak kúpiť mačku vo vreci to buy a cat in a sack
Slovene kupiti mačka v žaklju to buy a cat in a sack
Swedish köpa grisen i säcken to buy the pig in the sack

References[change | change source]

  1. Brewer, Ebenezer Cobham. (1853). "Pig in a poke," Errors of speech and of spelling, Vol. 2, p. 853.
  2. Brown, Keith. (2009). Concise Encyclopedia of Semantics, p. 404.
  3. Amer, Christine. (1997). "Pig in a poke," The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms, p. 499.
  4. A poke is a sack or bag. It comes from the French word poque; see Philip Durkin (2009). The Oxford Guide to Etymology, p. 106.
  5. Lal, Ram Narain. (1904). "Pig," The Student's practical dictionary of idioms, phrases and terms: with explanation in English and Roman-Urdu, p. 470.
  6. Trask, Robert Lawrence and Peter Stockwell. (2007). Language and Linguistics: The Key Concepts, p. 114.
  7. A related English expression is "let the cat out of the bag".
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 Gewehr, Wolf and Georgia Catsimali. (1998). Aspects of Modern Language Teaching in Europe, p. 203.