Dolphin

How to spell dolphin

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce dolphin

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does dolphin mean?

1. nounA small, intelligent marine mammal with a streamlined body and a beak-like snout, related to whales and porpoises.

Dolphin in a sentence

• A dolphin leapt clear of the water beside the ferry.

• The aquarium trains each dolphin to respond to hand signals.

Where does dolphin come from?

Language of origin: Greek

The word traces back to the ancient Greek delphis, with the stem delphin-, the name for the familiar sea mammal. Many scholars connect that root to delphys, meaning 'womb', a fitting link for an animal that bears live young rather than laying eggs. The Greek term passed into Latin as delphinus, then into Old French as daulphin or dauphin, and English adopted it in the Middle Ages. The same French dauphin became the title of the heir to the French throne, because the noble family of the Viennois carried a dolphin on its coat of arms. The spelling trap survives from the Greek: the 'f' sound is written 'ph', so it is dolphin and never 'dolfin'.

How the word is built

• dolph- (from Greek delphis: dolphin)
• -in (from Latin/French ending)