porpoise
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porpoise
- /ˈpɔːpəs/ UK
- /pɔːˈpɔɪs/ UK
- /ˈpɔːɹpəs/ US
Rhymes with -ɔː(ɹ)pəs, -ɔɪs
Where it comes from
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.
noun porpoises
verb porpoises · porpoising · porpoised
- Said of an air-breathing aquatic animal such as a porpoise or penguin: To repeatedly jump out of the water to take a breath and dive back in a continuous motion. Urging them to join me, I raced in circles through the surging water, chased my tail for the children, blew spouts of foam through the sunfilled spray, porpoised to and fro across the river in shallow leaps that stitched the air and water into a table-lace of foam.
-
Said of an aircraft: to make a series of plunges when taking off or landing; or of a watercraft: to successively plunge up and down in the water.
Similar: balloon
Translations
Every language
noun porpoise family
| Español | marsopa |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 쇠돌고래 soedolgorae, 돌고래 dolgorae |
| 日本語 | ネズミイルカ nezumiiruka |
| 中文 | 鼠海豚 shǔhǎitún |
| हिन्दी | सूंस sūns |
| Kiswahili | poposi |
| Português | marsuíno |
| Français | marsouin |
| Deutsch | Tümmler, Schweinswal |
| Italiano | focena |
| Ελληνικά | γουρουνόψαρο gourounópsaro |
| Română | marsuin |
| Русский | морска́я свинья́ morskája svinʹjá |
| Tiếng Việt | cá heo |
| العربية | خِنْزِير الْبَحْر ḵinzīr al-baḥr |
noun imprecisely, any small dolphin
| Português | boto |
|---|
Talk about this word "porpoise." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/porpoise. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. porpoise. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/porpoise "porpoise." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/porpoise.Cite this
@misc{porpoise_2026,
title = {porpoise},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/porpoise},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
