Porcupine

//ˈpɔː(ɹ)kjʊˌpaɪn// noun

noun ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Any of several rodents of either of the taxonomic families Hystricidae (Old World porcupines) or Erethizontidae (New World porcupines), both from the infraorder Hystricognathi, noted for their sharp spines or quills, which are raised when the animal is attacked or surprised.

    "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."

  2. 2
    relatively large rodents with sharp erectile bristles mingled with the fur wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
animalantelopeapearmadillobarbat

Example

More examples

"What's the difference between a hedgehog and a porcupine?"

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.

Related phrases

African brush-tailed porcupineAfrican crested porcupineAndean porcupineBahia porcupineBrazilian porcupineBritish ColumbiaCanada porcupineCanadian porcupineCape porcupineKoopman's porcupineMexican hairy dwarf porcupineMexican tree porcupine

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.