Adélie penguin

noun

Adé·​lie penguin ə-ˈdā-lē- How to pronounce Adélie penguin (audio)
: a small antarctic penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae)

called also Adélie

Illustration of Adélie penguin

Illustration of adélie penguin

Examples of Adélie penguin in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The day a group of us sat down in the snow and watched as hundreds of Adelie penguins waddled from one end of the snowy beach to another. — Aislyn Greene, AFAR Media, 8 Jan. 2025 David Attenborough narrates this visual journey through the Arctic and the Antarctic with intimate looks at exotic species, including Adelie penguins, Arctic wolves, albatrosses, and polar bears. — Chris Snellgrove, EW.com, 23 Jan. 2024

Word History

Etymology

from Adélie Land, Antarctica

Note: The claim that the bird was named for the wife of the explorer Jules Dumont-d'Urville seems to be specious. In January, 1840, the stretch of Antarctic coast reached by Astrolabe and Zélée, the ships commanded by Dumont-d'Urville, was named Terre Adélie (Adélie Land) after the explorer's wife (née Adèle-Dorothée Pépin). The first published description of the penguin species was by two members of Dumont's expedition, Jacques Bernard Hombron and Honoré Jacquinot, in Annales des Sciences Naturelles, 2. série, tome 16-Zoologie (1841), p. 320. The penguin is named "Gorfou d'Adélie (Catarrhactes Adeliæ)" and after its description follows simply the notation "Habite les glaces de la terre Adélie" ("[it] inhabits the ice sheets of Adélie Land").

First Known Use

1901, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of Adélie penguin was in 1901

Browse Nearby Words

Adelia
Adélie penguin
adelite
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Adélie penguin.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Ad%C3%A9lie%20penguin. Accessed 30 Mar. 2025.

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