Penguin

How to spell penguin

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce penguin

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does penguin mean?

1. nounA flightless black and white seabird of the southern hemisphere that swims using flipper-like wings.

Penguin in a sentence

• The zoo built a chilled enclosure so each penguin could dive and swim.

• The documentary followed a single penguin as it crossed the ice to feed.

Where does penguin come from?

Language of origin: Celtic

The origin of penguin is genuinely uncertain, and lexicographers still disagree. The most popular and best supported theory traces it to the Welsh phrase pen gwyn, literally meaning 'white head', which was first applied not to the Antarctic birds but to the now extinct great auk of the North Atlantic. When European sailors later reached the southern hemisphere and met similar looking flightless seabirds, they reused the familiar name. A rival theory links it to the Latin pinguis, meaning 'fat', which would suit the plump appearance of the birds, though this is harder to support on the evidence. The word appears in English from the late 1500s, already attached to the auk before being transferred south. The spelling trap lives in that middle 'gu', where the u is silent in the way many speakers pronounce it, so writing 'pengwin' is a natural slip.

How the word is built

• pen- (possibly Welsh pen: head)
• -guin (possibly Welsh gwyn: white)