penguin Hear it!

penguin definition

pen·guin (peŋ′gwin, pen′-)

noun

  1. great auk
  2. any of an order (Sphenisciformes) of flightless birds found in the Southern Hemisphere, having webbed feet and paddlelike flippers for swimming and diving

Etymology: prob. < Welsh pen gwyn, lit., white head (or Bret pen gouin): ? in reference to a white headland on a N Atlantic island, near which they were found

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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