piggin

English

Origin unknown; dates back at least to the 16th century English. Compare Scottish Gaelic pigean, diminutive of pigeadh, pige (“an earthen jar, pitcher, or pot”), Irish pigín, pighead, Welsh picyn.

piggin (plural piggins)

(dialect) A small pail, can, or ladle with the handle on the side; a lading-can. In the colonial era, some buckets were made like a small barrel, but with one stave left extra long. This stave would be carved into a handle so the bucket could be used as an oversized scoop for scattering grain, slopping the hogs, etc.
Synonyms: pig, pigg
- 1899, Charles W. Chesnutt, The Goophered Grapevine:
  At length a little negro girl appeared, walking straight as an arrow, with a piggin full of water on her head.