puffin

noun

puf·​fin ˈpə-fən 

: any of several seabirds (genera Fratercula and Lunda) 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

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

Throughout our Arctic expedition, the group was able to watch Arctic foxes, reindeer, seals, walruses, puffins, and even a pair of humpback whales, but not the emblematic polar bear. —Josh Rivera, USA TODAY, 30 June 2024

These include efforts to cull mice in favor of albatrosses, rats in favor of puffins, and pythons in favor of bobcats. —The New Yorker, 12 June 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