porcupine
/ˈpɔː(ɹ)kjʊˌpaɪn/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.88 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "I have no evidence of grizzlies killing porcupines or vice versa. However, occasionally there is contact and sometimes a grizzly is injured or a porcupine killed, but the latter is rare."
- "In particular, porcupines, hyenas, and leopards are known in Africa to transport bones to particular places."
- "Old World porcupines (Hystricidae) have quills embedded in clusters, whereas in New World porcupines (Erethizontidae) single quills are interspersed with bristles, underfur, and hair. No porcupine can throw its quills, but they detach easily and will remain embedded in an attacker."
Etymology
From Middle English porke despyne, from Old French porc-espin, from Latin porcus (“pig”) + spinus (“spine”), hence also spine pig. Cognate with Spanish puercoespín, Italian porcospino, Portuguese porco-espinho.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *perḱ-, porke despyne, porc-espin, porcus
Usage
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
African brush-tailed porcupine
African crested porcupine
Andean porcupine
Bahia porcupine
bicolored-spined porcupine
black dwarf porcupine
black-tailed hairy dwarf porcupine
Brazilian porcupine