Guinea pig
This perception of pigginess occurred in many languages other than English; the German word for them is Meerschweinchen, literally "little sea pigs" (sailing ships stopping to reprovision in the New World would pick up stores of guinea pigs, which provided an easily transportable source of fresh meat), the Russian and Polish word for them is similar, "morskaya svinka" (Морская свинка) and "świnka morska" respectively, meaning also "little sea pig" (it comes from archaic use of the word to mean "overseas"). However, this perception of pigginess is not universal to all languages or cultures. For example, the common Spanish term is 'conejillo de Indias' (Indian bunny rabbit).