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

Celebrate vultures at the L.A. Zoo There are a lot of cute birds out there, including hummingbirds, puffins and chickadees. —Jaclyn Cosgrove, Los Angeles Times, 5 Sep. 2024

Cool down by dipping your feet in the chilly waters, and be sure to keep an eye out for puffins nesting on the cliffs above. —Krista Simmons, Sunset Magazine, 15 July 2024

In Johnny Puff: Secret Mission, Depp plays a fedora-wearing puffin living in a town in the arctic who goes to battle with the evil Otto von Walrus. —Seth Abramovitch, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 July 2024

Apparently, a cruise ship from Alaska had anchored nearby so that its passengers could see the polar bears and puffins up close. —Ferris Jabr, Smithsonian Magazine, 3 July 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