porcupine
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of porcupine
1375–1425; late Middle English porcupyne, variant of porcapyne; replacing porke despyne < Middle French porc d'espine thorny pig. See pork, spine
Explanation
A porcupine is a prickly rodent, a round forest animal that's covered in sharp, protective quills. How do you pet a porcupine? Very, very carefully. Porcupine comes from Latin roots, porcus, "pig," and spina, "spine or quill." Fittingly, a regional name for the porcupine is "quill pig." The porcupine is famous for its spines, which become spikier when it's afraid or angry. Less well known is the fact that porcupines also clatter their teeth loudly as a warning — all the more reason for your dog to feel embarrassed after she ends up with a nose full of porcupine quills.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
What followed was a comedy of errors including military drills that outpaced anything this group of office workers had in mind, a rogue porcupine, stranded airplanes and one syringe to the butt of an employee.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 6, 2026
The next day I got up and went over to get in the shower and there was a porcupine.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 6, 2026
The hollow spikes may have served as a defensive adaptation, functioning in a way similar to the quills of a porcupine by discouraging predators from attacking.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 18, 2026
“I’m on stage with my target stick, my equipment, and having a porcupine do circles, follow me, roll a ball,” said Jadyn Carnicella, 20, a Simi Valley resident.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 11, 2025
“Two years ago. My birthday. I found a package on my front step. A porcupine necktie. I never found out who gave it to me.”
From "Stargirl" by Jerry Spinelli
Paterson and Gower used visual references from porcupines to animal embryonic sacks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 1, 2026
They lack the adorable charisma of chinchillas, porcupines, moles or rats, though.
From Salon ● May 11, 2025
Raccoon dogs, masked palm civets, hoary bamboo rats and Malayan porcupines have transmitted bat coronaviruses before, the study authors noted.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2024
Other animals identified as a potential source of the pandemic were the masked palm civet, which was also associated with the Sars outbreak in 2003, as well as hoary bamboo rats and Malayan porcupines.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2024
And humans had the cassava roots all to themselves, since pigs, porcupines, and other animals wouldn’t touch them.
From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
