penguin

American  

[peng-gwin, pen-] / ˈpɛŋ gwɪn, ˈpɛn- /

noun

Ornithology.

• penguins
  plural

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

2. Obsolete. great auk.

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penguin British  

/ ˈpɛŋɡwɪn /

noun

1. 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 barbs See also emperor penguin king penguin

2. an obsolete name for great auk

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• penguins
  plural

Etymology

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

Explanation

What's black and white and loves to eat seafood? A penguin! Penguins are flightless water birds, and the only place in the Northern Hemisphere where you'll find wild penguins is on the Galápagos Islands. If you live north of the equator, your interactions with penguins are limited to zoos and aquariums. Penguins are distinctive because of their contrasting black-and-white coloring, their size, and the fact that they walk and swim but don't fly. Their wings have, in fact, evolved to act as flippers in the water. You might think of penguins as cold-weather birds, and many do live in Antarctica, but most are found in more temperate areas.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

penguin penguins

With some imagination, one can visualize the arrangement of the particles involved as looking like a penguin.

From Science Daily ● May 26, 2026

From Argentina it was onto the British territory of South Georgia, a world-renowned wildlife destination famous for its penguin colonies, and then Tristan da Cunha, the remotest inhabited island in the world.

From BBC ● May 5, 2026

A viewing gallery will show everything from penguin health checks to ultrasounds on pregnant aardvarks and even porpoise post-mortems - things never before seen publicly in the UK.

From BBC ● Apr. 28, 2026

Julie Edwards grew worried when her daughter began coming home from kindergarten talking about “JiJi,” the penguin who stars in an app on her school-issued iPad.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 19, 2026

But the penguin, though thus neglected for the moment, was by no means idle.

From "Mr. Popper's Penguins" by Florence Atwater and Richard Atwater

From naughty penguins to ungovernable elephant seals, funny animals attracting attention on the internet is nothing new.

From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026

Capybaras spend most of their time in the water—they’re sort of the penguins of the rodent world—so they can easily get entangled in that storm-drain trash.

From Slate ● May 27, 2026

For Olson, the highlight of her time aboard the Plancius was the ship’s visit to South Georgia Island, home to millions of penguins in the South Atlantic Ocean.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 17, 2026

How a kindergarten teacher became the accidental guardian of 200 king penguins.

From MarketWatch ● May 15, 2026

He remembered how the South Pole penguins always did this to find out what danger lay below.

From "Mr. Popper's Penguins" by Florence Atwater and Richard Atwater