auk

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   any of a family of compact black-and-white northern seabirds adapted for swimming and diving, including puffins, guillemots, and murres

   The auk used its short wings to propel itself beneath the cold water.

Borrowed from Icelandic alka, from Old Norse alka, 'auk,' with cognates in other Scandinavian languages. English sailors and naturalists adopted the northern name for members of the Alcidae, a seabird family whose wings serve both flight and underwater pursuit.

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