Puffin

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈpÊŒfɪn/
• Rhymes: -ÊŒfɪn

Origin

Origin uncertain; perhaps ultimately from Middle Cornish (compare Breton poc'han ("puffin")).

Full definition of puffin

Noun

1. (now obsolete) The young of the Manx shearwater (Puffinus puffinus), especially eaten as food. 14th–19th c.
2. The Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica).
3. Any of the other various small seabirds of the genera Fratercula and Lunda that are black and white with a brightly-colored beak. from 17th c.
• 1894, Rudyard Kipling, , The White Seal:Naturally the Chickies and the Gooverooskies and the Epatkas–the Burgomaster Gulls and the Kittiwakes and the Puffins, who are always looking for a chance to be rude, took up the cry, and–so Limmershin told me–for nearly five minutes you could not have heard a gun fired on Walrus Islet.

Synonyms

• sea-parrot
• UK, regional pope

Derived terms

• puffinet
• puffinry
• puffling

Related terms

• fraterculine