penguin

penguin — noun

1. a sea bird from cold southern regions, with a dark back and white belly, that ca

1.nounB1
Definition

a sea bird from cold southern regions, with a dark back and white belly, that cannot fly and swims with short flippers.

Example

A penguin slid off the ice and splashed into the sea.

typical movement: slide off ice into water

At feeding time, the zoo keeper tossed fish to the penguins.

common context: penguins at a zoo

Common collocations
  • emperor penguin
  • penguin chick
  • penguin colony
  • penguin egg
  • penguin flippers
Synonyms
  • seabird

    a broader word for any bird that lives by the sea, not only penguins

  • flightless bird

    describes birds that cannot fly; it also includes ostriches, emus, and kiwis

  • emperor penguin

    one particular large species, not a general name for all penguins

Grammar Patterns

a/the penguin

penguins (plural)

Usage Note

Often used with species names such as emperor penguin or king penguin. In general writing, penguin can mean one bird or this kind of bird as a group.

Common Mistakes

We saw three penguin near the pool.
We saw three penguins near the pool.
use the plural form after a number.
Penguins can fly over the ice.
Penguins cannot fly, but they move quickly in water.
penguins are flightless birds.

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Penguin is the normal everyday word for this animal. Seabird is much broader: gulls, puffins, and albatrosses are seabirds too, so the word does not show the bird's special shape or the fact that it cannot fly. Flightless bird only tells you about the lack of flight, and it can also describe ostriches, emus, and kiwis. Emperor penguin is not a general synonym but the name of one large Antarctic species. Use penguin when the exact type is unknown or unimportant, and use a species name when you need to be exact. For example, 'The children watched a penguin dive for fish' is general, while 'An emperor penguin kept the egg on its feet' identifies a particular kind.

penguin ↗seabirdflightless birdemperor penguin

Common collocations

Nouns

  • penguin chick
  • penguin colony
  • penguin egg
  • penguin pool
  • penguin species

Phrases

  • emperor penguin
  • king penguin
  • penguins in Antarctica
  • feed the penguins

Prepositions

  • penguin in (the sea / a zoo)
  • penguin on (the ice / the shore)

Etymology

WelshEnglish

Penguin first appeared in English in the late 1500s, but it did not originally name the southern bird we think of today. It was first used for the great auk, a large flightless seabird of the North Atlantic that is now extinct. Many scholars connect the word with Welsh pen gwyn, meaning 'white head', though the exact origin is still uncertain. English speakers later gave the same name to similar-looking birds in the southern hemisphere, and that newer use became the standard meaning.