penguin

Syllables: pen·guinUK/ˈpɛŋ.ɡwɪn/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

pin pen merger/ˈpɪŋ.ɡwɪn/

penguin noun: 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.

Image: Sander Spek, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

penguin (plural penguins)

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.
- 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 […]1638, Thomas Herbert, Some Yeares Travels, section I
(historical, obsolete) An auk (sometimes especially a great auk), a bird of the Northern Hemisphere.
- 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.1772 March, “Account of the Settlement of the Malouines”, in The Gentleman's and London Magazine, page 166
- 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."1885, Journal of the American Geographical Society of New York
(slang) A nun.
- 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.1980, Dan Aykroyd, The Blues Brothers (motion picture)
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.
(UK, slang) A member of the air force who does not fly aircraft.
- 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' […]1942, Hermann Hagedorn, Sunward I've Climbed, page 143
- 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.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

Proper noun capitalized: Penguin

Penguin

A town in Central Coast Council, northern Tasmania, Australia.

penguin meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

penguin in Hindi

flightless sea bird: पेंगुइन peṅguin

penguin in Tamil

flightless sea bird: பென்குயின் peṉkuyiṉ, பனிக்கோழி paṉikkōḻi

penguin in Urdu

flightless sea bird: پنگوئن penguin, پینگوئن painguin, بِطْرِیق bitrīq

penguin in Bengali

flightless sea bird: পেঙ্গুইন peṅguin

More languagesFewer languages

penguin in Malayalam: അൻറാർട്ടിക്കയിലെ കടൽത്താറാവ്, പറക്കാൻ കഴിയാത്ത, പെൻഗ്വിൻ
penguin in Kannada: ಪೆಂಗ್ವಿನ್, ಒಂದು ಜಾತಿಯ ಸಮುದ್ರ ಕೋಳಿ
penguin in Gujarati: પેંગ્વિન peṅgvin
penguin in Assamese: পেঙ্গুইন peṅguin
penguin in Pashto: پنګوين pangwín
penguin in Tagalog: pingguwino
penguin in Arabic: بِطْرِيق biṭrīq
penguin in Malay: penguin
penguin in Indonesian: angsa gempal, pinguin
penguin in Persian: پنگوئن pangu'an
penguin in Thai: เพนกวิน pen-gwîn
penguin in Vietnamese: chim cánh cụt, chim cụt cánh
penguin in Myanmar: ပင်ဂွင် panggwang
Dhivehi: ޕެންގުއިން pen̊guin̊

Examples of penguin in a sentence

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.2015 June 1, Kate Christie, In the Company of Women, Bella Books, →ISBN, →OCLC:
This was to be my home for three months where ground officer cadets, referred to colloquially as ‘penguins’ were trained.2019 November 5, Derek Esp, An Adventure in Education: The Autobiography of an Accidental Career in Education, Troubador Publishing Ltd...

All 25 example sentences with penguin

Forms of penguin

plural	penguins
alternative form (obsolete)	pinguin

Plural of penguin: penguins

Origin of 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.

Phrases with penguin

Questions about penguin

What does penguin mean?: Penguin means 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.
What is penguin in Hindi?: Penguin in Hindi is पेंगुइन (peṅguin). See Penguin meaning in Hindi.
How do you use penguin in a sentence?: 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.
What part of speech is penguin?: Penguin can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce penguin?: Penguin is pronounced /ˈpɛŋ.ɡwɪn/ (UK).
What is the plural of penguin?: The plural of penguin is penguins.

Words near penguin in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: penguin (page history and authors); Penguin (page history and authors); penguin (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); penguin (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-penguin.ogg.

Cite this entry: “penguin.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/penguin. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.