Penguin

Pronunciation

• enPR: pÄ•ng'gwÄ­n, pÄ•n'gwÄ­n

Origin

Unknown origin

T.F. Hoad, Concise Dictionary of English Etymology, ISBN 978-0-19-283098-2; headword penguin

. Possibly from Welsh pen ("head") and gwyn ("white"), or from Latin pinguis ("fat"). See and the Wikipedia page.

Full definition of penguin

Noun

1. Any of several flightless sea birds, of order Sphenisciformes, found in the Southern Hemisphere; marked by their usual upright stance, walking on short legs, and (generally) their stark black and white plumage. from 16th c.
• 1638, Thomas Herbert, Some Yeares Travels, I:Here are also birds cal'd Pen-gwins (white-head in Welch) like Pigmies walking upright, their finns or wings hanging very orderly downe like sleeves ....
2. (slang) A nun (because of the black and white habit).
3. (juggling) A type of catch where the palm of the hand is facing towards the leg with the arm stretched downward, resembling the flipper of a penguin.
4. (botany) A spiny bromeliad with egg-shaped fleshy fruit.

Derived terms