Cool ceramic penguin

 

The word penguin first appears in the 16th century as a name for the great auk. When European explorers discovered what are today known as penguins in the Southern Hemisphere, they noticed their similar appearance to the great auk of the Northern Hemisphere, and named them after this bird, although they are not closely related.

The etymology of the word ceramic penguin is still debated. The English word is not apparently of French, Breton or Spanish origin (the latter two are attributed to the French word pingouin "auk"), but first appears in English or Dutch.

Some dictionaries suggest a derivation from Welsh pen, "head" and gwyn, "white", including the Oxford English Dictionary, the American Heritage Dictionary, the Century Dictionary and Merriam-Webster, on the basis that the name was originally applied to the great auk, either because it was found on White Head Island (Welsh: Pen Gwyn) in Newfoundland, or because it had white circles around its eyes (though the head was black).

An alternative etymology links the word to Latin pinguis, which means "fat" or "oil". Support for this etymology can be found in the alternative Germanic word for penguin, fettgans or "fat-goose", and the related Dutch word vetgans.

Adult male penguins are called cocks, females are hens; a group of penguins on land is a waddle, and a group of penguins in the water is a raft.