penguin
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈpɛŋɡwɪn/
ipa: /ˈpɪŋɡwɪn/
rhymes: -ɛŋɡwɪn
rhymes: -ɪŋɡwɪn
Forms: form: penguins
form: pinguin
Etymology: Etymology tree
Proto-Celtic *kʷennom
Proto-Brythonic *penn
Welsh pen?
Proto-Indo-European *weyd-der.?
Proto-Celtic *windos
Proto-Brythonic *gwɨnn
Welsh gwyn?
Proto-Indo-European *peyH-der.
Proto-Indo-European *bʰenǵʰ-influ.?
Latin pinguis?
English penguin
Uncertain. First attested in the 16th century in reference to the auk of the Northern hemisphere; the word was later applied to the superficially similar birds of the Southern hemisphere (as was woggin). Possibly from Welsh pen (“head”) and gwyn (“white”), or from Latin pinguis (“fat”). See citations and the Wikipedia article.
Sense 3 originates from the often black-and-white habit worn by nuns, which resemble the bird's colors.
Senses: examples: text: 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 […]
ref: 1638, Thomas Herbert, Some Yeares Travels, section I:
glosses: Any of several flightless sea birds, of the family Spheniscidae within the 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.
examples: text: This last species of penguin, or auk, seems to be the same with the alca cirrhata of Dr. Pallis, Spicileg. Zool. Fasc. v. p. 7. tab. i. & v. fig. 1–3. F.
ref: 1772 March, “Account of the Settlement of the Malouines”, in The Gentleman's and London Magazine, page 166:
text: More than a hundred years ago, for example, was seen the last of the great wingless penguins or auks, which early writers quaintly called " wobble-birds."
ref: 1885, Journal of the American Geographical Society of New York:
glosses: An auk (sometimes especially a great auk), a bird of the Northern Hemisphere.
examples: text: Jake (John Belushi): What are we doing here?
 Elwood (Dan Aykroyd): You promised you'd visit the penguin the day you got out.
 Jake: Yeah. So, I lied to her.
 Elwood:You can't lie to a nun. We gotta go in and visit the penguin.
ref: 1980, Dan Aykroyd, The Blues Brothers (motion picture):
glosses: A nun.
topics: arts
hobbies
juggling
lifestyle
performing-arts
sports
glosses: 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.
examples: text: These productive patches, and the houses, were each surrounded by a fence, made of a prickly shrub, called the Pinguin, which propagates itself with great rapidity.
ref: 1803, Robert Charles Dallas, The History of the Maroons, London: Longman and Rees, Volume 1, Letter 4, p. 82:
glosses: A spiny bromeliad with egg-shaped fleshy fruit, Bromelia pinguin.
examples: text: Although it is a permanent R.A.F. station (pre-war, that is), we meander about, even in the Mess, in battle dress and flying boots, sweaters, etc., much to the disgust of some of the more dignified 'penguins' […]
ref: 1942, Hermann Hagedorn, Sunward I've Climbed, page 143:
text: Notwithstanding his elevated status as the wing’s Senior Intelligence Officer, Monty, too, was a “penguin,” equal in that respect to an armament assistant, airframe mechanic, pigeon loftsman or any of the seventy-odd ground trades listed by the Royal Canadian Air Force at the war’s end.
ref: 1994, Monty Berger, Invasions without tears: the story of Canada's top-scoring Spitfire wing in Europe during the Second World War, →ISBN, →LCCN, page xi:
text: She may have been a “penguin”—an Air Force service member who didn't fly—but it sure beat being at home, as Brady had pointed out.
ref: 2015 June 1, Kate Christie, In the Company of Women, Bella Books, →ISBN, →OCLC:
text: This was to be my home for three months where ground officer cadets, referred to colloquially as ‘penguins’ were trained.
ref: 2019 November 5, Derek Esp, An Adventure in Education: The Autobiography of an Accidental Career in Education, Troubador Publishing Ltd, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 46:
topics: government
military
politics
war
glosses: A member of the air force who does not fly aircraft.
Derived terms: Adelie penguin
African penguin
banded penguin
brush-tailed penguin
Chatham Island penguin
Chatham Islands penguin
chinstrap penguin
club penguin
crested penguin
embrace the penguin
emperor penguin
erect-crested penguin
fairy penguin
Fiordland penguin
Galapagos penguin
Galápagos penguin
gentoo penguin
Humboldt penguin
jackass penguin
king penguin
little penguin
macaroni penguin
Magellanic penguin
penguinarium
penguin diagram
penguinery
penguinese
penguinesque
penguinish
penguinlike
penguinone
penguinry
penguin suit
penguin trainer
Ridgen's penguin
rockhopper penguin
royal penguin
Snares penguin
Waitaha penguin
white-flippered penguin
yellow-eyed penguin