PENGUIN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does penguin mean? 

• PENGUIN (noun)
  The noun PENGUIN has 1 sense:

1. short-legged flightless birds of cold southern especially Antarctic regions having webbed feet and wings modified as flippers

  Familiarity information: PENGUIN used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PENGUIN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Short-legged flightless birds of cold southern especially Antarctic regions having webbed feet and wings modified as flippers

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("penguin" is a kind of...):

sphenisciform seabird (flightless cold-water seabirds: penguins)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "penguin"):

Adelie; Adelie penguin; Pygoscelis adeliae (medium-sized penguins occurring in large colonies on the Adelie Coast of Antarctica)

Aptenodytes patagonica; king penguin (large penguin on islands bordering the Antarctic Circle)

Aptenodytes forsteri; emperor penguin (the largest penguin; an Antarctic penguin)

jackass penguin; Spheniscus demersus (small penguin of South America and southern Africa with a braying call)

crested penguin; rock hopper (small penguin of the Falkland Islands and New Zealand)

Holonyms ("penguin" is a member of...):

family Spheniscidae; Spheniscidae (comprising all existing penguins)

 Context examples 

"We've been developing the penguin model for 10 years," says Jenouvrier.

(Unless warming is slowed, emperor penguins will march toward extinction, National Science Foundation)

In contrast, chinstrap penguins have remained krill specialists.

(Whaling and climate change lead to 100 years of feast or famine for Antarctic penguins, National Science Foundation)

"This resulted in population decline and poor breeding success" for all the king penguin colonies in the region, Weimerskirch said.

(Study: World's Largest King Penguin Colony Declines Sharply, VOA)

The Ross Sea - home to penguins, seals, Antarctic toothfish, whales and huge numbers of krill - a staple food for many species - is one of the last intact marine ecosystems in the world.

(Deal Reached to Create World's Largest Marine Reserve in Antarctica, VOA News)

Phosphine is among the stinkiest, most toxic gases on Earth, found in some of the foulest of places, including penguin dung heaps, the depths of swamps and bogs, and even in the bowels of some badgers and fish.

(Poisonous Earthly Molecule May Be Sign of Extraterrestrial Life, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

They pointed out the fish and dead birds lying about among the rocks as proving the nature of the food of these creatures, and I heard them congratulating each other on having cleared up the point why the bones of this flying dragon are found in such great numbers in certain well-defined areas, as in the Cambridge Green-sand, since it was now seen that, like penguins, they lived in gregarious fashion.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But although gentoo and chinstrap penguins are found in the same locations, gentoo penguins are increasing in abundance while chinstrap penguins are rapidly declining.

(Whaling and climate change lead to 100 years of feast or famine for Antarctic penguins, National Science Foundation)

"It can give a very detailed account of how sea ice affects the life cycle of emperor penguins, their reproduction, and their mortality."

(Unless warming is slowed, emperor penguins will march toward extinction, National Science Foundation)

The world's largest colony of king penguins has declined by nearly 90 percent in 35 years, according to an alarming study published in Antarctic Science.

(Study: World's Largest King Penguin Colony Declines Sharply, VOA)

Because humans have never commercially harvested penguins, Polito and colleagues expected that changes in penguins' diets and populations would mirror shifts in krill availability.

(Whaling and climate change lead to 100 years of feast or famine for Antarctic penguins, National Science Foundation)