What does penguin mean?

Definitions for penguin
ˈpɛŋ gwɪn, ˈpɛn-pen·guin

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word penguin.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. penguinnoun

    short-legged flightless birds of cold southern especially Antarctic regions having webbed feet and wings modified as flippers

Wiktionary

  1. penguinnoun

    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.

  2. penguinnoun

    A nun (because of the black and white habit).

  3. penguinnoun

    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.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. Penguinnoun

    anser magellanicus, Latin.

    British Indians nam’d from penguins.

    The penguin is so called from his extraordinary fatness: for though he be no higher than a large goose, yet he weighs sometimes sixteen pounds: his wings are extreme short and little, altogether unuseful for flight, but by the help whereof he swims very swiftly. Nehemiah Grew, Musæum.

    The penguin is very common in the West Indies, where the juice of its fruit is often put into punch, being of a sharp acid flavour: there is also a wine made of the juice of this fruit, but it will not keep good long. Philip Miller.

Wikipedia

  1. Penguin

    Penguins (order Sphenisciformes , family Spheniscidae ) are a group of aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is found north of the Equator. Highly adapted for life in the water, penguins have countershaded dark and white plumage and flippers for swimming. Most penguins feed on krill, fish, squid and other forms of sea life which they catch with their bills and swallow it whole while swimming. A penguin has a spiny tongue and powerful jaws to grip slippery prey.They spend roughly half of their lives on land and the other half in the sea. The largest living species is the emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri): on average, adults are about 1.1 m (3 ft 7 in) tall and weigh 35 kg (77 lb). The smallest penguin species is the little blue penguin (Eudyptula minor), also known as the fairy penguin, which stands around 30–33 cm (12–13 in) tall and weighs 1.2–1.3 kg (2.6–2.9 lb). Today, larger penguins generally inhabit colder regions, and smaller penguins inhabit regions with temperate or tropical climates. Some prehistoric penguin species were enormous: as tall or heavy as an adult human. There was a great diversity of species in subantarctic regions, and at least one giant species in a region around 2,000 km south of the equator 35 mya, during the Late Eocene, a climate decidedly warmer than today.

ChatGPT

  1. penguin

    A penguin is a flightless bird that is notable for its upright stance and distinctive black-back and white-front coloring. They are primarily found in the Southern Hemisphere, especially in Antarctica, and are adapted for life in the ocean, with flippers for swimming and a layer of fat for insulation against cold temperatures. Penguins are known to live in colonies for mating and breeding, and are typically monogamous. Their diet mainly consists of fish, squid and other forms of sea life caught during diving.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Penguinnoun

    any bird of the order Impennes, or Ptilopteri. They are covered with short, thick feathers, almost scalelike on the wings, which are without true quills. They are unable to fly, but use their wings to aid in diving, in which they are very expert. See King penguin, under Jackass

  2. Penguinnoun

    the egg-shaped fleshy fruit of a West Indian plant (Bromelia Pinguin) of the Pineapple family; also, the plant itself, which has rigid, pointed, and spiny-toothed leaves, and is used for hedges

  3. Etymology: [Perh. orig. the name of another bird, and fr. W. pen head + gwyn white; or perh. from a native South American name.]

Wikidata

  1. Penguin

    Penguins are a group of aquatic, flightless birds living almost exclusively in the southern hemisphere, especially in Antarctica. Highly adapted for life in the water, penguins have countershaded dark and white plumage, and their wings have evolved into flippers. Most penguins feed on krill, fish, squid and other forms of sealife caught while swimming underwater. They spend about half of their lives on land and half in the oceans. Although all penguin species are native to the southern hemisphere, they are not found only in cold climates, such as Antarctica. In fact, only a few species of penguin live so far south. Several species are found in the temperate zone, and one species, the Galápagos Penguin, lives near the equator. The largest living species is the Emperor Penguin: on average adults are about 1.1 m tall and weigh 35 kg or more. The smallest penguin species is the Little Blue Penguin, also known as the Fairy Penguin, which stands around 40 cm tall and weighs 1 kg. Among extant penguins, larger penguins inhabit colder regions, while smaller penguins are generally found in temperate or even tropical climates. Some prehistoric species attained enormous sizes, becoming as tall or as heavy as an adult human. These were not restricted to Antarctic regions; on the contrary, subantarctic regions harboured high diversity, and at least one giant penguin occurred in a region not quite 2,000 km south of the equator 35 mya, in a climate decidedly warmer than today.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Penguin

    pen′gwin, n. an aquatic bird in the southern hemisphere, unable to fly, but very expert in diving—also Pin′guin.—n. Pen′guinery, a breeding-place of penguins. [Ety. dub.; a corr. of pen-wing, or from W. pen, head, gwen, white.]

Dictionary of Nautical Terms

  1. penguin

    A web-footed bird, of the genus Aptenodytes, unable to fly on account of the small size of its wings, but with great powers of swimming and diving: generally met with in high southern latitudes.

Editors Contribution

  1. penguin

    Is an aquatic bird.

    The Penguins are white and black in colour and sometimes have a yellow breast and are a joy to watch.


    Submitted by MaryC on January 5, 2015  

Matched Categories

How to pronounce penguin?

How to say penguin in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of penguin in Chaldean Numerology is: 6

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of penguin in Pythagorean Numerology is: 5

Examples of penguin in a Sentence

  1. Emilia Salach:

    Every misfit in a flock is more exposed to rejection and harm ... We can see already it hasn't been accepted yet by most of our little penguin family.

  2. Linus Torvalds:

    Some people have told me they don't think a fat penguin really embodies the grace of Linux, which just tells me they have never seen a angry penguin charging at them in excess of 100mph. They'd be a lot more careful about what they say if they had.

  3. Flinders University:

    Next to its colossal human-sized cousins, including the recently described monster penguin Crossvallia waiparensis, Kupoupou was comparatively small - no bigger than modern King Penguins which stand just under 1.1 meters tall.

  4. Astrid Willener:

    At the beginning they would be a bit surprised, but actually they learned very fast, the penguin gets used to it. They kind of knew that when the little beep was coming the treadmill would start.

  5. Joao Paulo Krajewski:

    It is a beautiful story because the penguin was in very bad shape and about to die when it was first found and the men gave him a second chance.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

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Translations for penguin

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"penguin." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Mar. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/penguin>.

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