Porpoise
/ˈpɔːr.pəs/noun
A small marine mammal related to dolphins, with a blunt snout and rounded body.
Did you know?Its name comes through Old French from Latin porcus and piscis, so a creature we now see as sleek and graceful was once classified with the blunt, earthy imagery of a pig-fish.
Etymological Timeline
Latin
Latin
porcus piscis
““pig fish,” a descriptive phrase for a sea animal”
Old French
Old French
porpais / porpeis
“a porpoise; the marine mammal”
Middle English
English
porpoys / porpoise
“the porpoise”
Modern English
English
porpoise
“a small marine mammal related to dolphins”