porcupine
Americannoun
-
porcupines
plural
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:
Scott: I think it might have been a Mexican hairy dwarf porcupine.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 6, 2026
According to reports at the time there were some clues, including the discovery of straw bedding with porcupine quills in it.
From BBC ● Feb. 13, 2025
BBC Scotland News understands bedding was discovered with porcupine quills in the straw.
From BBC ● Jan. 10, 2025
Today, there are only three survivors: the nine-banded armadillo, the Virginia opossum and the North American porcupine.
From Science Daily ● May 28, 2024
Parts of it stuck straight up like porcupine stickers because Momma hadn’t been too gende when she snatched the handkerchief off.
From "The Watsons Go to Birmingham" by Christopher Paul Curtis
A man who lives in a log cabin and keeps wallabies, mongooses, porcupines, parrots and other rare birds has been told to move.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
They lack the adorable charisma of chinchillas, porcupines, moles or rats, though.
From Salon ● May 11, 2025
The samples from the stall that contained the coronavirus also contained DNA from a variety of animals, including dogs, rabbits, hoary bamboo rats, Malayan porcupines and masked palm civets.
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
He was slipping along as if he were walking on porcupines.
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
