# lipstick on a pig

idiom · CEFR C1 · Informal

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/lipstick-on-a-pig
Updated: 2026-08-06

## Meaning

To make superficial or cosmetic changes to something in a doomed attempt to disguise its fundamental flaws.

## Examples

- You cannot just put lipstick on a pig to fix this broken car.
- The company tried to put lipstick on a pig by changing the product name, but the quality remained poor.
- Despite the elaborate marketing campaign designed to put lipstick on a pig, the public quickly recognized that the underlying policy was fundamentally flawed.

## Origin

The image behind the phrase is old, even if the word "lipstick" is not. Proverbs mocking the futility of dressing up something coarse go back centuries: "you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear" was current by the mid-1500s, and by 1732 Thomas Fuller was noting that "a hog in armour is still but a hog." "Lipstick" itself was only coined around 1880, and writers took a while to pair it with the pig. Charles F. Lummis toyed with the pig-and-cosmetics image in the Los Angeles Times in 1926, and an early version of the full phrase appears in Stella Gibbons' 1946 novel Westwood, with newspaper sightings following through the 1980s. The expression became a fixture of American political speech, turning up during the 2008 presidential campaign in the mouths of both Barack Obama and John McCain.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.