What Is a Group of Pigs Called?
From a drift in the barnyard to a sounder in the wild, pigs have collected an unusually large set of collective nouns.
A group of pigs is most commonly called a drift, with sounder reserved for family groups of wild pigs, and team, passel, and drove also turning up in older or regional usage. Pigs (genus Sus) are highly intelligent, social mammals found on every continent except Antarctica, and have been domesticated by humans for thousands of years.
Quick Facts
| Animal | Pigs |
|---|---|
| Scientific name | Sus |
| Category | Mammals |
Deck of Nouns
On This Page
What Is a Group of Pigs Called?
Drift is the most widely used collective noun for a group of domestic pigs, evoking the loose, wandering way pigs move together while rooting for food. Sounder is the term wildlife experts reach for specifically, describing a family group of wild or feral pigs. Team, passel, and drove show up too, mostly in older sources or in the specific context of pigs being herded from place to place.
Where Did the Name Come From?
The exact origin isn’t certain, but many animal collective nouns trace back centuries, to a time when colorful group names became popular among hunters, nobles, and writers cataloguing the natural world. “Drift” likely nods to the unhurried, wandering way pigs move as a group, rather than traveling in any orderly formation, they drift across fields, forests, and pastures together.
“Sounder” is the more specialized term, and it belongs specifically to wild pigs: a sounder typically consists of adult sows, their piglets, and young pigs, while boars live a mostly solitary life and only join a sounder during breeding season.
Pig Facts
- Family units: A sounder of wild pigs is typically made up of sows, their piglets, and young pigs, while boars live alone and join only during breeding season.
- Remarkably smart: Pigs can solve puzzles, learn routines, and remember solutions for long periods, ranking among the most intelligent domesticated animals on the planet.
- Poor built-in air conditioning: Despite the phrase “sweating like a pig,” pigs have very few functional sweat glands and rely on mud wallows to cool off instead.
- Fast for their size: Wild boars can run at speeds of around 30 miles per hour over short distances.
- World-class noses: A pig’s sense of smell is so sharp that they’ve been trained to hunt down valuable truffles hidden underground.
- Long-lived: Domestic pigs can live 12–20 years, while wild pigs typically live just 4–10 years due to predators, disease, and hunting pressure.
Example Sentences
- A drift of pigs rooted through the muddy pasture after the morning rain.
- Wildlife cameras caught a sounder of wild pigs moving through the underbrush at dusk.
Other Names for a Group of Pigs
Drift remains the term most people reach for when describing domestic pigs in general, while sounder is the specialist’s word, used almost exclusively for wild and feral pig families. Team, passel, and drove are the least common of the group today, but they still appear in older field guides and in the specific context of pigs being moved or driven from one place to another.
🧠 Test Your Pig Knowledge
Three quick questions. See what stuck.
1. What’s the most common collective noun for a group of pigs?
2. What collective noun is most often used for wild pigs?
3. What is a baby pig called?
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a group of pigs called?
Most often a drift, with sounder used specifically for family groups of wild pigs, and team, passel, and drove also seen in older or regional usage.
What is a baby pig called?
A baby pig is called a piglet.
What is a female pig called?
An adult female pig is called a sow.
What is a male pig called?
An adult male pig is called a boar.
How many piglets can a sow have?
A sow commonly gives birth to between 6 and 12 piglets in a litter.
Can pigs really find truffles?
Yes, pigs have an exceptional sense of smell and have historically been trained to locate truffles hidden underground.
From Drifts to Sounders
Whether they’re part of a drift, a sounder, or an old-fashioned drove, pigs have collected one of the more varied vocabularies in the animal kingdom, fitting for a mammal this smart, social, and surprisingly fast on its feet.