Adélie penguin

noun

Adé·lie penguin | \ ə-ˈdā-lē-

Definition of Adélie penguin

: a small antarctic penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae)

— called also Adélie

History and Etymology for Adélie penguin

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").

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Adélie penguin

Definition of Adélie penguin

Illustration of Adélie penguin

First Known Use of Adélie penguin

History and Etymology for Adélie penguin

Adélie penguin

Definition of Adélie penguin

Illustration of Adélie penguin

First Known Use of Adélie penguin

History and Etymology for Adélie penguin

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