US /ˈpɛŋ.ɡwɪn/
noun name Freq #8167

Meanings

  1. 1
    noun

    A black-and-white seabird that cannot fly, stands upright, and lives mainly in cold southern regions.

    A group of penguins waddled across the ice toward the sea.

Thesaurus

Word family
Forms penguins
Derived forms penguinariumpenguinerypenguinesepenguinesquepenguinishpenguinlikepenguinonepenguinry

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Celtic *kʷennom Proto-Brythonic *penn Welsh pen? Proto-Indo-European *weyd-der.? Proto-Celtic *windos Proto-Brythonic *gwɨnn Welsh gwyn? Proto-Indo-European *peyh₂-der. Proto-Indo-European *bʰenǵʰ-influ.? Latin pinguisder.? English penguin Uncertain. First attested in the 16th century in reference to the auk of the Northern hemisphere; the word was later applied to the superficially similar birds of the Southern hemisphere (as was woggin). Possibly from Welsh pen (“head”) and gwyn (“white”), or from Latin pinguis (“fat”). See citations and the Wikipedia article. Sense 3 or…

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