penguin

[peng-gwin, pen-]

noun Ornithology.

any of several flightless, aquatic birds of the family Spheniscidae, of the Southern Hemisphere, having webbed feet and wings reduced to flippers.

Obsolete. great auk.

Origin of penguin

1570–80; origin uncertain; perhaps < Welsh pen gwyn literally, white head (referring to the great auk in its winter plumage); later misapplied to the Spheniscidae

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for penguin

Contemporary Examples of penguin

Reprinted by arrangement with The Penguin Press, a member of Penguin Group (USA) LLC, A Penguin Random House Company.
Thank Congress, Not LBJ for Great Society
Julian Zelizer, Scott Porch
January 4, 2015
Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC.
Make These Barefoot Contessa Chicken Pot Pies
Ina Garten
November 29, 2014
This species of penguin was showered with positive coverage throughout the 20th century by a supposedly vigilant press.
Lovable ‘Madagascar’ Penguins Are Known to Rape and Torture in Real Life
Asawin Suebsaeng
November 26, 2014
The adjudication of the Daily Beast office was clear and emphatic: penguin, penguin, penguin.
How Monty The Penguin Won Christmas: Britain’s Epic, Emotional Commercials
Tim Teeman
November 16, 2014
The boy feels rejected and confused, and then hits on a Christmas morning solution, delivering a penguin mate for his penguin.
How Monty The Penguin Won Christmas: Britain’s Epic, Emotional Commercials
Tim Teeman
November 16, 2014

Historical Examples of penguin

He'd had a penguin in a snowstorm and he'd been happy with it.
The Doorway
Evelyn E. Smith
The penguin's body serves as an oil-vessel, and the moss as a wick.
Chatterbox, 1906
Various
The birds comprise a darter, a cormorant, a guillemot, and a penguin.
Little Folks (Septemeber 1884)
Various
I now know these friends, in my thoughts of them, as Penguin Persons.
Penguin Persons & Peppermints
Walter Prichard Eaton
But there was no alternative, so the vessel was stranded on Penguin Island.
Celebrated Travels and Travellers
Jules Verne

British Dictionary definitions for penguin

penguin

noun

any flightless marine bird, such as Aptenodytes patagonica (king penguin) and Pygoscelis adeliae (Adélie penguin), of the order Sphenisciformes of cool southern, esp Antarctic, regions: they have wings modified as flippers, webbed feet, and feathers lacking barbsSee also emperor penguin, king penguin

an obsolete name for great auk

Word Origin for penguin

C16: perhaps from Welsh pen gwyn, from pen head + gwyn white

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for penguin

1570s, originally used of the great auk of Newfoundland (now extinct), shift in meaning to the Antarctic bird (which looks something like it, found by Drake in Magellan's Straits in 1578) is from 1580s. Of unknown origin, though often asserted to be from Welsh pen "head" (see pen-) + gwyn "white" (see Gwendolyn), but Barnhart says the proposed formation is not proper Welsh. The great auk had a large white patch between its bill and eye. The French and Breton versions of the word ultimately are from English.