ˈpengwə̇n, -eŋg- noun
( -s )
Etymology: perhaps from Welsh pen gwyn white head, from pen head + gywn white; perhaps from a white promontory on an island near Newfoundland where great auks were found in large numbers in the 16th century — more at arpent , finnock
1. archaic : great auk
2. : any of various short-legged flightless aquatic birds of the southern hemisphere that constitute the family Spheniscidae, are most numerous about the Antarctic continent, the Falkland islands, and New Zealand, stand erect on land but walk clumsily, are covered with short, stiff, scalelike feathers many of which are simple shafts without barbs, have wings resembling flippers, bearing only rudimentary scalelike quills, being used for swimming and incapable of flexure but moved with a rotary motion by specially developed muscles, and feed chiefly on crustaceans, mollusks, and fish — see emperor penguin , jackass penguin , king penguin , rock hopper