piongain
feminine
The Irish word for penguin is piongain.
piongain is used to refer to a flightless sea bird.
Meaning: flightless sea bird (noun)
How does it change in a sentence?
piongain is a feminine noun.
Did you know?
- The word piongain is a loanword derived from the English 'penguin', which in turn came from the Welsh 'pen gwyn', meaning 'white head'.
- Despite the name piongain being used for all penguins, Irish has a very rich and specific vocabulary for native sea birds like the gannet or puffin.
- The word piongain belongs to a category of 'modern imports' in Irish, where words for animals not native to Ireland are almost always borrowed rather than created from native roots.
Examples in context
- Tá an piongain anseo.The penguin is here.
Example conversation
Conor and Saoirse are looking at animals in a book.
- ConorBreathnaigh ar an piongain seo!Look at this penguin!
- SaoirseIs cúisithe í an piongain.The penguin is cute.
- ConorAn féidir léi eitilt?Can she fly?
- SaoirseNí féidir léi eitilt, a Chonaire.She cannot fly, Conor.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “penguin” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
