porpoise

Meanings

Noun

any of several small gregarious cetacean mammals having a blunt snout and many teeth
Any small cetacean of the family Phocoenidae, related to dolphins and whales.
Any small dolphin.

Verb

Said of an air-breathing aquatic animal such as a porpoise or penguin: To repeatedly jump out of the water to take a breath and dive back in a continuous motion.
Said of an aircraft: to make a series of plunges when taking off or landing; or of a watercraft: to successively plunge up and down in the water.

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English porpeys, purpeys, borrowed from Anglo-Norman porpeis, purpeis, Old French pourpois, porpois, pourpais, porpeis (“porpoise”), from Vulgar Latin *porcopiscis (“porpoise”, literally “pig-fish”), from Latin porcus (“pig”) + piscis (“fish”). Compare (in transposed order) obsolete Italian pesce porco and Portuguese peixe porco; also Latin porcus marinus (“sea hog”), akin in formation to German Meerschwein, English mereswine. More at mereswine.

Synonyms

balloon, garfish, mereswine, sea hog, sea pig, seaswine

Scrabble Score: 12

porpoise is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
porpoise is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
porpoise is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 14

porpoise is a valid Words With Friends word