puffin

noun

puf·​fin ˈpə-fən 

: any of several seabirds (genus Fratercula) of the northern hemisphere having a short neck and a deep grooved parti-colored laterally compressed bill

Illustration of puffin

Examples of puffin in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Seabirds like puffins, fulmars and guillemots nest on the rocky cliffs of the islands. —Avery Schuyler Nunn, Smithsonian Magazine, 3 Dec. 2024

Iceland, Greenland, and Antarctica—April 18 Linda Hawley from San Diego Oasis leads this fascinating discussion on Thursday, April 18 at 11 a.m. Learn about everything from geysers to glaciers, penguins to puffins, ice flows to icebergs, and hot springs for home heating. —Sarah Z. Sleeper, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Apr. 2024

If time in Homer allows, book a Kachemak Bay wildlife cruise to spot sea otters, seals, whales, and puffins before jetting back to Anchorage. —Stephanie Vermillion, USA TODAY, 19 Oct. 2024

The largest populations of puffins are in Iceland, which is home to more than half of the world's Atlantic puffins. —Jake Parks, Discover Magazine, 5 Sep. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English puffoun, poffin, pophyn "young of the shearwater Puffinus puffinus collected as food," probably borrowed from an unattested Middle Cornish cognate of Breton (Léon dialect) pocʼhan, pogan "puffin," (Basse-Cornouaille dialect) bocʼhanig (diminutive), probably a derivative of bocʼh "cheek" (Middle Cornish bogh), of uncertain origin

Note: Breton bocʼh and Middle Cornish bogh may descend from a British Celtic borrowing from Latin bucca "lower part of the cheeks, jaw, puffed-out cheeks," unless this word is itself a Celtic loan.

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing puffin

• Atlantic puffin

Kids Definition

puffin

noun

puf·​fin ˈpəf-ən 

: any of several seabirds that are related to the auks and have a short thick neck and a deep grooved bill marked with different colors