This word for “hedgehog” still lives on in other Germanic languages, e.g. Swedish where a hedgehog is called “igelkott.” But throughout most of the Middle Ages, hedgehogs in English were called “urchins.” The word “hedgehog,” which literally means an animal that looks like a pig and lives in your hedge, doesn't come ...

Why are hedgehogs called urchins?

Strangely enough, urchin, pronounced "UR-chin," comes from the 13th century French word yrichon, which means “hedgehog,” and is still used as such in parts of England today. As for people who are urchins, perhaps they got the name because at the time, they were so small, wild and many in number — like hedgehogs.

When did hedgehogs stop being called urchins?

Sometime around the mid-15th century, the English stopped calling these small mammals covered in bristles "urchins" and decided that they looked like piglets that typically lived in shrubs. According to Etymonline, the term hedgehog is a compound word formed by hedge (n.)