Link Centre Dictionary

porpoise

por·poise

UK/ˈpɔːpəs/ US/pɔːˈpɔɪs/ rare us

noun

1.

any of several small gregarious cetacean mammals having a blunt snout and many teeth

Origin

From Middle English porpeys, purpeys, borrowed from Anglo-Norman porpeis, purpeis, Old French pourpois, porpois, pourpais, porpeis (“porpoise”), from Vulgar Latin *porcopiscis (“porpoise”, literally “hog-fish”), taken from Latin porcus (“hog, pig”) + piscis (“fish”). Compare (in transposed order) obsolete Italian pesce porco and Portuguese peixe porco; also Latin porcus marīnus (“sea hog”); akin in formation to Frankish *mariswīn (“porpoise, dolphin”) (whence German Meerschwein, English mereswine). Displaced native Middle English brunswyn. More at mereswine.

Phrases

  • Cape Porpoise
  • Dall's porpoise
  • finless porpoise
  • harbour porpoise
  • killer whale
  • sea lion
  • spectacled porpoise
  • sperm-whale porpoise

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.