Middle English: from Old French, from a Germanic word meaning 'ham, flitch'; related to back.

• The word bacon was adopted from French in the 14th century and can be traced back to an ancient German root that links it to back, probably in the sense of the cut of meat. In early use it could mean fresh pork, as well as cured, and could also refer to a pig's carcass. To bring home the bacon, ‘to supply food or support’, first appeared in the USA during the early years of the 20th century. It may have developed from to save one's bacon (‘to escape danger or difficulty’), an older expression which dates from the mid 17th century.