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

The first webcam will be fixed on the puffin burrows. —Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 15 May 2025

Made up of four separate islands, this pristine region is home to the largest Atlantic puffin colony in all of North America, with more than 250,000 of the birds congregating during the spring and summer to reproduce. —Jared Ranahan, Forbes, 9 Mar. 2025

Species such as puffins and guillemots, which inhabit nearby coastal cliffs, are especially at risk. —Jesus Mesa, Newsweek, 11 Mar. 2025

In addition to these species, the region also offers the opportunity to catch the occasional seabird soaring along the surf, with potential appearances by the great shearwater, Atlantic puffin and pomarine jaeger, to name a few. —Jared Ranahan, Forbes, 9 Mar. 2025

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

Rhymes for puffin

• akin
• auxin
• buckskin
• chagrin
• deerskin
• foreskin
• fuchsin
• herein
• kingpin
• linchpin
• pigskin
• pinyin

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