Pork is meat that comes from pigs. When you eat bacon at breakfast, ham at a picnic, or pork chops for dinner, you're eating pork. Different cuts of pork have different names: ribs, tenderloin, sausage, and bacon all come from different parts of the pig.

Pork has been an important food source for thousands of years across many cultures. In some regions, pigs were easier to raise than cattle because they could eat scraps and didn't need large pastures. However, some religions, including Judaism and Islam, forbid eating pork.

The word also appears in political language. When politicians add pork or pork barrel spending to a bill, they're including money for projects in their home districts that might benefit them politically but don't help the whole country. A senator might slip funding for a new bridge or museum into a much larger spending bill. Critics call this wasteful, while supporters argue these projects create jobs and help local communities.